


Double Discovery

by DP_Marvel94



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Danny bantering with himself, Double Danny, Family Issues, Gen, Identity Reveal, Mother-Son Relationship, Revelations, Split Danny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-07-19 19:35:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19979395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DP_Marvel94/pseuds/DP_Marvel94
Summary: After accidentally shooting Phantom with an anti-possession gun, Maddie finds she has a lot to learn about both Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton. Eventual Revelation Story.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first multi chapter story. I really wanted to write a revel fic so this is my attempt. It contains a split Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom but will not in anyway become Pitch Pearl. They are two halves of the same person so any touching and comforting is not romantic (it's self love, you guys). This story will focus on the relationship between Maddie and Danny as Fenton. And Maddie and Danny as Phantom. And of course, there will be Fenton and Phantom interaction as we know Danny loves bantering with himself.

While Maddie Fenton loved working with her husband, she was enjoying some time away from Jack and was happy to be able to work on her own project, a new containment system for captured ghosts, when he was out of town visiting his parents. At the same time, Jazz was away at a college summer program, so it was just her and Danny at Fenton Works. She was excited to spend some quality time with her son this week. Danny had been rather distant the last year. Maddie wasn’t sure if it was just normal teen behavior or something more. Something had changed since the accident; Danny just wasn’t the sweet little boy that he had been before. He was moody, scattered brained and was letting his grades slip which is why he was in summer school.

Maddie yawned. 

“I think I’ve been working on this long enough” she said to herself as she dragged herself upstairs to go to bed close to midnight. 

The ghost containment unit was something she had been working on for months and she was finally getting somewhere with it which made her very happy. She changed into her favorite yellow pajamas with purple ghosts on them; Jack had given them to her and even if she did love having some alone time, she did miss him. She brushed her hair and her teeth and went to turn off the light when she decided to go check on Danny. She hadn’t seen him since they ate dinner together around 7. After dinner, he had gone upstairs to work on summer school homework. She walked down the hall to her son’s bedroom and opened the door only to find it empty. 

“Danny! Sweetie, where are you?” Maddie called to resounding silence

His homework, textbook and phone were left undisturbed on his desk, but he was not there. She knocked on his bathroom door

“Sweetie, are you in here?” asked Maddie through the bathroom door but again got no response. 

She speed through all the rooms upstairs: Jazz’s bedroom, the bathroom, her and Jack’s bedroom and lastly Danny’s room again, nothing. 

“Daniel Fenton! This is not funny! Where are you!?”

Maddie was starting to panic now. Maybe he was downstairs. She checked the living room, the kitchen, the downstairs bathroom but still did not find him. Heart now pounding, Maddie grabbed a proto-type anti-possession ectogun from the table, slipped some shoes on and ran out to the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle. 

Pulling out of the driveway, Maddie bite her lip; while Danny had snuck out before, he never left without his phone. His friends were out of town on family trips so he could not be with them.

“Think Maddie, Think! The park!” 

She headed towards the park; she knew he liked to hang out there, especially when he was alone. As she approached, she saw flashes of neon green light and heard shouts. She turned the corner to find Phantom, fighting a enormous ghost snake in the middle of the road. The fight was completely blocking her path. 

Slamming on the breaks, Maddie made a split second decision. While she really wanted to find Danny, the ghost hunter and protector in her would not allow her to ignore the battle taking place in the street. Maddie put the car in park and grabbed the ectogun from the passenger seat.

She flung the door up and ran towards the fight with gun raised. She took cover behind a parked car and watched the fight unfold. The two hundred foot long ghost snake was coiled with its head facing away from her, striking and hissing at a black and white blur darting around its head. An ectoblast shot through the air and seared the snake’s ghostly green flesh. The beast writhed its head in the direction of the blast sending a figure sailing into the nearby roof. 

Maddie thought ‘This is my chance’ and ran out from behind the car to get a better shot. She aimed at its head and pulled the trigger. 

“Take that you ghostly menace!” shouted Maddie as the shot connected.

The snake whipped around and striked at her surprisingly fast for a creature that size. As Maddie went for a second shot the ghostly snake slithered towards her and knocked her over with its tail. The shot went off but too high, the blast soaring past its head. The snake lugged at Maddie, blocking her vision as she breathlessly tried to move away. Just then Maddie heard an eerie, high pitched scream. Maddie’s blood ran cold but she could not focus on who she just shot. With hands shaking, Maddie tried to shoot again but the gun miss fired. Heart pounding, she tried to crawl behind a car when suddenly, a powerful green ectoblast hit the snake in the side of the head. Then, a blue light encompassed the snake as it was compressed and disappeared.

Heart still pounding, Maddie looked to her left to find who had saved her. Her mouth fell open. Standing ten feet away was the ghost boy, Phantom, and her son, Danny. Danny was standing beside the ghost with his right arm around the ghost and a Fenton Thermos in his left hand. The ghost boy had his right arm around her son and his left hand lit up with neon green ectoplasm. Maddie’s wide eyes were glued to the pair. Phantom slowly lowered and extinguished his left hand. The ghost and the boy questioningly looked at each other, then both pairs of eyes focused on Phantom’s ectoplasm covered chest. The ghost’s knees buckled. Dropping the thermos, Danny gently lowered him to the ground and fell to his knees beside the ghost. He held Phantom’s hand and muttered. “It’ll be okay. We’ll go home and we’ll fix this.” 

Maddie’s mind struggled to process what she was seeing. What was her son doing here? Where had he come from? There was nowhere nearby for him to be hiding. And now he was right beside and touching a powerful and potentially dangerous ghost. At this thought, Maddie stood up and scrambled over to her son. 

“Danny?! Danny?! Get away from the ghost.” She yelled as she leveled the gun at Phantom

He ignored her, staring down in horror at the ghost below him. She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away. 

“Danny! Come on! We have to go home.” Implored Maddie; yet he was still frozen in horror at the sight in front of him and softly muttering to the ghost.

Disturbed by her son’s reaction, Maddie finally studied Phantom’s condition. Her eyes widened in horror and distress as she dropped the weapon. On his chest, the black suit was melted away. The ghostly flesh underneath was visibly burned around the circular wound. The wound oozed neon green ectoplasm but had viscus orange globs from the ectogun as well. Ectoplasm was dripping down the ghost’s face from his nose, like a nosebleed in a human. The ghost struggled to breathe and coughed up ectoplasm which dripped down his chin. 

Letting go off her son’s arm, Maddie fell to her knees beside her son. This finally got Danny’s attention whose wet eyes quickly meet hers. “Mom? What are you doing here?” He asked, his voice shaking with some emotion she cannot identify.

Just like that her focus feel back on her son. She pulled him into a tight hug, which he stiffly accepted. “I went to check on you but you weren’t in your room. What are you doing here? Are you okay?” 

Danny replied with a quiet “No”. Maddie quickly studied him for injuries. His shirt was covered with ectoplasm but she saw no wounds. “Sweetie, We need to get you home and cleaned up.”

Maddie stood up and moved to help Danny up but found him unmoving. “Danny. Come on sweetie. Get up. We need to leave.” 

Danny looked at her, eyes pleading. “Wait. We can’t leave Phantom.”

The statement shifted Maddie’s focus again. She looked down to find her sons’ hand still in Phantom’s. 

They heard a groan and soft pleading from the ghost below them. “Fenton. Fenton. I don’t feel so good.” Danny looked at the ghost in panic, seeing ectoplasm seeping from him. His feet were melting into puddles of ectoplasm and the green was slowly engulfing his body- an impending destabilization.

Danny’s eyes widened in panic and the tears increased. “No! No! No! Don’t do this! Hey look at me. Keep it together. We’ll figure out how to fix this.”  
Tears streaming down his face, Danny begged her. “Mom, Help us.” 

Maddie bite her lip in worry and looked at her son. The intense emotional reaction Danny was having for the injured Phantom worried her; she did not want him so attached to a dangerous ghost. But she also understood his reaction. Her Danny had always had such a big heart and that he was unable to turn away from anyone in need, even a ghost, was not surprising. She looked back down at the ghost, who appeared to be in excruciating pain. He looked vulnerable, like a child no older than her own Danny. Hardly believing the words coming out of her mouth, Maddie answered. 

“Okay. We’ll take him to Fenton Works and treat his injuries.” 

For some reason she wanted to care for and protect the injured Phantom even if he was one of the most dangerous ghosts in Amity Park.

Danny’s eyes filled with hope at the statement but his brow quickly cressed in concern as Maddie reached for the Fenton thermos that was on the ground between her and Danny. “What are you doing?”

“We’ll use the thermos to carry him home.” Maddie answered, shaking the thermos and moving to uncap it.

Danny shook his head, his eyes widened and he responded in a haunted voice “No, you can’t put him in there. It’s dark and small. You can’t see or hear or feel anything. We hate that thing.” Danny cut himself off, closed his eyes and shook his head, as if to clear it. He muttered. “Focus Fenton.” And then looks at her and said “I’ll carry him to the RV.”

Maddie reached to stop him, calmly pleading “But honey…”

But Danny ignored her, moving into a crouch to pick up Phantom. He easily lifted and carried him bridle style, and then jogged towards the still running RV.

Maddie picked up the fallen ectogun and quickly followed, dumb founded by everything that had happened. Her mind was racing trying to process her son’s reaction and how she should approach this. Taking Phantom home presented a rare opportunity to study the ghost up close; Phantom had been observed to be somewhat of an anomaly. He was unpredictable and his behavior did not reflex a single, clear obsession. He tended to appear and disappear at random, often inexplicably getting through ghost shields and vanishing from their radars. Phantom had also grown in power steadily since he appeared, making him the most powerful ghost that was commonly seen in Amity Park. The scientist in Maddie wanted to figure out the cause behind some of these mysteries, but a larger part, the motherly part, was very unsettled by her son’s familiarity and comfort with the ghost and wanted to make sure he was safe.

Focusing back on her son and the ghost in his arms, Maddie watched Danny open the side door to the Ghost Assualt Vehicle and gently place the ghost on the bench seats in the back. The whole time, Danny quietly talked to Phantom, pleading with him to stay awake and focus on staying solid. Danny crouched on the floor between the bench seat and the driver’s seat. He looked to Maddie as she stood in the door of the van. His eyes fell on the ectogun in her hand and his eyes widened in a hurt expression. 

He asked quietly. “Is that what you shot us with?”

Maddie looked at the gun and then her son in confusion. “Us? What do you mean us?” Looking back at the gun, Maddie’s eyes widened in realization. “It’s an anti-possession gun.”

At this, Danny’s eyes widened in fear and he moved his arms in front of himself protectively. “No! Mom. It’s not what you think!”

“Danny! Phantom was possessing you!” Maddie’s voice rose in anger.

“Wait! Mom! Let me explain! It’s not like that.” Danny plead.

“How else can you explain this? You disappear from your room and show up out of nowhere when I shot Phantom with this.” Maddie argued as she held up the gun and pointed it at Phantom. Her voice rising in fury, Maddie yelled at the ghost. “I will tear you apart. How dare you touch my baby! Danny! Get away from this piece of ectoplasmic scum!”

Maddie’s eyes blazing with fury, she placed her finger on the trigger. In a flash, Danny was standing in the RV, between her and Phantom, blocking the ghost with his body.  
His voice creaking with panic (and fear?) Danny plead. “Mom! Put the gun down! I let him do it!”

Gun still raised, Maddie thought she must have miss heard. She quietly asked. “What?”

Danny looked from the gun and into her eyes. “I let Phantom possess me! I’ve been helping him fight ghosts.”

Maddie lowered the gun. Part of her wished it was a joke, but he looked completely serious. Maddie did not know whether to be angrier at Phantom for using her son or at Danny for consenting.

“Danny! Why would you do that? You know ghosts are dangerous!”

Danny looked completely lost for words but was saved from having to answer by a groan from Phantom. They looked back to see the melting spreading up Phantom’s legs again.  
Danny turned to his mother again, eyes filled with renewed panic and determination. “We can talk about this later. He’s still destabilizing.”

She opened her mouth to argue, not wanting to drop the issue, but Danny cut her off.

“I promise we will talk about this later and I’ll tell you everything. But I cannot loss Phantom. I have to save him.”

At this, Danny turned away from his mother and towards to ghost, kneeling in front of him. Maddie’s mouth opened in disbelief but before she could argue again. Danny states. “Tell me about that ectogun. Why is Phantom melting?”

Realizing she was not getting any more information right now, Maddie answered. “It forcibly removes a ghost from the human it’s possessing, using ectoradium and a synthetic ghost repellant.” Pointing at the ghost’s chest, “That’s what that orange residue is. Although, it was supposed to weaken the ghost, not cause destabilization.”

Nodding in understanding and holding Phantom’s hand again, Danny inquired. “So removing those orange globs should stop this.” 

Maddie fought the urge to rebuke her son for touching the ghost but just nodded in agreement. 

Taking off his shirt to use as a rag and taking one of the water bottles they keep in the RV, Danny wet his shirt and gently wiped Phantom’s chest. As he cleaned the wound, Phantom’s legs and then feet resolidified, the black and white color of his suit returning. 

Danny sighed in relief, his shoulders dropping their tension. He softly smiled at the ghost and said “There. Is that better?” 

Phantom’s unfocused eyes struggled to reach his, but the ghost managed half a smile and subtly nodded yes. Danny then looked to his mother who was still standing in the doorway. Flatly he says. “We can go home now.”

Maddie’s eyes were still wide in awe as she studied the tenderness and care in the interaction between Phantom and Danny. She shook her head to clear these musings. Maddie countered. “I won’t be able to keep an eye on him while I’m driving.”

“I’ll make sure he does not fall off the seat. Luckily you’re a safer driver than Dad.” Danny quipped to try and lighten the mode.

However, this fell flat as Maddie gave him a look at says “Seriously” like only his mother could.

Danny caught the meaning and the worry in her eyes. “Phantom would never hurt me. He’s too injuried to do anything anyway.”

Struggling to keep her eyes on the pair, Maddie walked to the driver’s seat. She did not feel good about driving home and not being able to secure Phantom but saw no alternative. She adjusted the mirror so she could see into the back to keep an eye on the two, buckled her seat belt, and put the RV in drive.

They sat in silence for a few moments until Danny suddenly said. “Do we have any ectoplasm?”

Maddie replied “What?”

“Ectoplasm. Phantom can drink it to help him heal.” 

Maddie bite her lip not wanting to tell him; A healed Phantom means a potentially more dangerous Phantom. But before she can decide, Danny was crawling towards the power cell for their ghost shield.

“What are you doing?” Maddie inquired.

“The ghost shield runs on purified ectoplasm, right? I can use that.” Danny replied, opening the panel and reaching for the cells.

“Danny! Stop, you can’t touch that with bare hands!” Maddie shouted while slamming on brakes.

The vehicle jolted to a stop, knocking Danny on his back and eliciting a groan of pain from Phantom. Expecting to hear a yelp of pain from Danny, Maddie whipped around to see Danny holding the vial of ectoplasm with a small amount spilled on his bare chest. Her mouth fell open; his chest and hands were uninjured with no sizzling ectoplasm burns as should be expected.

Danny looked at her sheepishly. “I’m okay.”

This night had been full of surprises and Maddie couldn’t help but feel that there will definitely be more. Not knowing how to respond, Maddie lightly rebuked. “Sweetie. Put on gloves next time. And put on a shirt. I think your jacket is in the back.”

Danny stood up, walked over, and grabbed the light blue hoodie. Pulling it over his head, Danny walked back to where Phantom was laying and sat in front of him again.  
As Maddie puts the car back in drive, Danny presented the ectoplasm to Phantom. Talking to the ghost, Danny tiped the vial over Phantom’s mouth. “Drink up.”

Phantom mumbled. “Nah. Tastes bad.” And turned his head to the side.

Danny chuckled lightly. “I know. It tastes nasty. But it’ll help you heal. So pretend it’s… I don’t know the peanut butter bacon shake at the Nasty Burger.”

Phantom’s voices rose slightly in hope “Milkshake?”

Danny laughed more earnestly. “Sorry. Not actually a milkshake but we can get one once this is over. Open up. Don’t make me hold your nose.”

Phantom’s slightly spacey voice replied. “Not the nose! Fine.”

Phantom opened his mouth and Danny poured in the ectoplasm. Phantom swallowed. In the rearview mirror, Maddie saw Phantom’s aura flare and then remained brighter. At the increased energy, Phantom shoot up and then winced at his chest injury. Maddie tensed at this but make no move to stop the RV.

Danny’s hands were on the ghost’s shoulders and he was studying his face with tentative hope. “You better?”

Phantom nodded his head, studying the human like this was the first time he’s ever seen him. His eyes were more focused that they had been since he got shoot.  
His voice flat and completely serious, Phantom asked. “Hey, Fenton?”

“Yeah?” Danny answered voice unsure.

“I think I’m having an out of body experience.” And while the statement was flat, Phantom’s face broke into a grin at the end.

“You jerk. That’s not funny.” Danny replied with a grin of his own and lightly punched the ghost on the shoulder. “But seriously, you are feeling better? Not going to melting or anything?”

Phantom laid back down. “Yeah. We need to bandage this though.” He replied pointing to his chest.

“Alright. I’ll deal with it when we get home. We don’t have any gauze. You try to sleep.” Danny squeezed Phantom’s hand as Phantom closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

While listening to this exchange, Maddie was thinking about everything that happened tonight. Her Danny had apparently been helping Phantom fight ghost and was very comfortable and familiar with the ghost, as shown by that last exchange. The two banter like close friends or even siblings. As she pulled into the drive away, Maddie looked into the rearview mirror one more time. Danny was still holding Phantom’s hand in one hand and holding his shirt to wipe ectoplasm from the ghost’s face with the other. His expression was soft but worried. Maddie sighed. Her gut was telling her this is just the tip of the iceberg. She still had a lot to learn about both Phantom and her son.


	2. Chapter 2

Putting the car into park, Maddie looked back at her son and Phantom. “Danny. We’re here.”

Maddie opened the driver’s side door and walked around towards the side door of the RV. Inside, Danny stood up to pick up Phantom. “I can carry Phantom inside.” Maddie offered.

Danny shook his head. “No, I’ve got this. He’s really light.” 

After picking up the ghost and again holding him bridle style, Danny exited the RV and walked to the front door which Maddie unlocked. In the lite living room, Maddie could see Phantom more clearly. His white hair was disheveled, and his face nuzzled into Danny’s shirt, as if he was seeking comfort in the other’s presence. Danny moved to put Phantom on the couch.

Maddie shook her head, brows furrowing in slight frustration. “No. He’s staying in the lab.”

Danny opened his mouth to argue but Maddie interrupted. “We are not arguing about this. If I am keeping a powerful ghost under my roof, then he is staying in the lab.”  
Frowning, Danny begrudgingly gave in and carried Phantom down the stairs, into the basement lab. Danny froze uncertainty and a little fear flashing in his eyes when he saw the ghost containment unit in the middle of the lab, between the stairs and the portal. The unit was a 10 by 10 by 10 feet glass cube. The thick phase proof walls were designed to withstand both ectoblasts and brute strength, with a powerful ghost shield running through the walls. It was even designed to withstand Phantom’s sonic attacks. The feature Maddie was most proud of though- a human, like say her accident prone husband, could not get locked in. While a trapped ghost would be shocked by the ghost shield and unable to leave even if the door to enter and exit the unit was open, a human could simply open the door and exit since the door had no lock. Maddie moved to the control panel and turned the shield on.

Maddie pointed to metal table within the unit. “Put Phantom there.”

Walking into the unit, Danny gently put the ghost down. “Mom can you get something so I can bandage Phantom’s chest?”

Maddie found the first aid kit, under the sink of the lab bathroom. She opened it, her stomach knotting with worry as she observed that it was significantly less well stocked than the last time she checked it. Luckily, there appeared to be enough gauze and medical tap to bandage Phantom. When Maddie exited the bathroom, she saw Danny had removed Phantom’s suit from the waist up. She handed the kit to Danny and watched as he bandaged the ghost’s chest with the careful hand of someone who had done this too many times before. 

Danny studied his work. “That looks okay. Hopefully it is will be healed before tomorrow night.”

Danny walked out of the unit and towards bathroom. He came out moments later with one of the cots Maddie and Jack stored there for when they were working long nights in the lab.

Maddie crossed her arms and frowned. “You better not be planning on sleeping down here!”

“It’s for Phantom. If he wakes up on the table in lab, he’ll think you’re going to dissect him. That won’t end well. We’ve had nightmares about that.” Danny shook his head, as if he was trying to clear his head of that image.

Danny set up the cot and moved Phantom to it, laying a pillow under his head and a blanket over him. Danny exited the unit and closed the door. Hand reaching to rub his neck, he nervously said. “I’ll… uh… head up to bed now.”

Maddie continued to frown and cross her arms. “Not yet young man. We need to talk.”

Danny groaned in annoyance. “Can’t it wait until the morning? I’m tired.”

Sharply Maddie replied, eyes boring into him. “No. I want to truth and I want it now.”

Danny bit his lip, eye fixed on the floor and shoulders slumped in defeat. “Alright. Can we go upstairs?”

Maddie’s eyes still fixed on her son, she nodded and motioned him upstairs. Danny tread up the stairs, movements slow as if to delay the coming confrontation. Once in the kitchen, he took a seat at the table, eyes still trained on the floor. Maddie took the seat across from him. 

Deciding to start at the beginning, Maddie asked flatly. “Why were you out of your room tonight?”

Danny looked at her but flinched when he met her hard eyes. His focus traveled back to the floor and he bite his lip, quietly answering. “I was helping Phantom.”

“By allowing him to possess you?”

Danny answers flatly. “Yes”

Trying to remain calm, Maddie pushed him for more information. “Tell me the truth. Did Phantom threaten you? Or promise you something?”

“No.”

“Really Danny. You don’t have to defend him! If you threatened you, your father and I can protect you. Tell me what he did to convince you.” 

“Nothing!! It was my idea.”

“What!” Maddie froze, eyes widening in disbelief. After a pause, she continued, her anger flaring. “Why would you do that? You know better! Why would you help a ghost?”

“Phantom’s a good guy. He’s trying to help the town!”

“So you let him possess you?! What could either of you get from that?! We don’t know if that could hurt you in the long term!”

“It’s fine! Phantom’s not doing anything to me! I’m helping because I want to!”

“Then why are you letting him violate you like that? Phantom could do anything to you or use you to hurt people. How are you okay with this?!”

Danny’s eyes blazed with fury at that statement. “Phantom’s not violating me! He would never do anything to hurt me or anyone else!”

“How do you know that? Phantom could be tricking you!”

“Why! Because all ghosts are evil? Why won’t you even give Phantom a chance?!”

“This isn’t about whether or not Phantom is evil. He is putting you in danger! He could hurt you!”

“I told you earlier, Phantom would never hurt me!”

“But you are getting hurt!”

Danny tried to argue “But…”

“Don’t lie to me I’ve seen the bruises you try to hide. I saw the almost empty first aid kit tonight and how you treated Phantom, like you’ve done it dozens of times before. Don’t tell me this is not dangerous.” Maddie wiped tears threatening to spill down here checks.

Danny crossed his arms, pouting. “Yeah. I sometimes get hurt. But I’m helping people! This town needs Phantom and Phantom can’t do this without me!”

Maddie sighed, trying to calm herself down. Arguing with Danny like this was getting her nowhere. “Look. Danny if you want to hunt ghost, your father and I can teach you. We can take you hunting with us and train you how to use our weapons. But you cannot keep doing this behind our backs. You can’t keep helping Phantom like this.”

“But…”

Cutting of his argument, Maddie shouted. “I don’t want to hear any other argument from you! You are not helping Phantom anymore! You will stay away from him and if he goes anywhere near you, I will not hesitate to rip him apart molecule by molecule.”

At this point, Maddie was out of breath with anger. She expected for Danny to continue fighting her but was surprised to see a hurt expression on his face. He was near tears. “Why do you hate Phantom so much? What did he ever do to you? We’re just trying to help. We just want to keep everyone safe but you won’t even listen to me. You would even give Phantom a chance.”

Dumb founded at this outburst, Maddie was realizing how dire situation was. Clearly Danny cared deeply about Phantom and simply forbidding him from helping him would not work. She swallowed and said in the calmest voice she could muster. “Danny. I know that you care about Phantom deeply. A lot of young people, like you, find him very alluring and I can understand you falling for that. But you can’t guarantee he feels the same way about you or even has the ability to.”

Danny looked at her with a confused look. “What do you mean?”

Maddie frowned, not really wanting to spell it out. “Danny do you have a crush on Phantom? If you do that’s fine. But Phantom does not feel that same way about you.”

Danny’s eyes widened in shock. Looking queasy he responded. “What! I don’t… That doesn’t even…Ewww. Mom. That is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard. That would be like me liking Jazz!”

Maddie was completely shocked, not expecting that at all. “Then why do you care about Phantom so much?”

Danny was furiously shaking his head to dissolve those images. “We’re just friends? No closer than that. I guess brothers is the closest word. But definitely not…that.” After scrunching his nose in disgust, Danny looked at her with sincere eyes. “Let’s never talk about that again. The point is yes, I care about Phantom and I know him very well, better than anyone else does. I know he is good. Yes he has messed up and he knows it. But he wants to protect this town and its people. Can’t you just trust me and give Phantom a chance?”

Maddie looked at her son sadly. “I don’t know if I can do that, Danny. Trust has to be earned and you broke mine.”

She saw Danny’s eyes light up with guilt. “Then I’ll work on earning that trust. But can you promise to give Phantom a chance, for me please?”

Part of her wanted to say no, that this was dangerous, and she should go downstairs right now and destroy Phantom. But her heart said if it’s that important to Danny, it’s worth pursuing. “Okay.”

Danny’s eyes lit up with hope. “Really?! You’ll listen to Phantom. You won’t hurt him or try any painful experiments.”

“Yes. I will listen. I do not promise to believe or trust him but I will listen. And while I won’t go out of my way to hurt him, if Phantom tries anything, anything at all to hurt or manipulate me, you, or anyone else, I will not hesitate to destroy him.”

Danny shook his head in understanding. “Okay. I can live with that.” He bit his lip in nervousness. “Can I uhhh go to bed now?”

Maddie put her hand up to stop him. “One minute. We need to discuss your punishment. You were out past curfew without my knowledge doing something dangerous behind my back. Is that correct?”

“Yes ma’am.” Danny responded, as he deflated with guilt.

“As a consequence, you are grounded for two months.”

“What…” Danny tried to argue.

Voice deadly serious and more than a little angry, Maddie continued “Let me finish. I’m taking your phone and your laptop. If you need the computer for schoolwork, you will use the one in the lab. If you are not working on homework, you will be catching up on your chores. After two weeks, if you are on your best behavior, I will return your phone. Do you understand?”

Danny frowned, looking at the floor. “Yes ma’am”

Maddie nodded and gave him a slight smile, reaching across the table to take his hands. “Danny, while I am disappointed, I am glad you are okay after everything that happened tonight. I’m glad this is out in the open now.” 

Danny looked into her eyes, still looking slightly guilty. “Yeah Mom.”

Maddie kissed his forehead. “Go to bed.”

Danny stood up still sad. “See you in the morning.” She watched him walk up the stairs and enter his room. Once he was out of sight, she slumped in her chair and put her head in her hands. Maddie was still a little shaken from everything that happened tonight. Danny never did say why exactly Phantom possessed him. They would need to talk more about that in the morning and she needed to talk to Phantom. Looking at the clock, Maddie saw it is almost 2 am. She needed to try and get some sleep. Standing up, Maddie headed to her and Jack’s bedroom. Hopefully tomorrow would provide some answers.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has given comments and kudos, and have bookmarked this story! Please let me know your thoughts so far. Any comments and constructive criticism are welcome and will really motivate me to write.

Maddie tossed and turned for about an hour, her mind full of questions before she succumb s to her exhaustion. She fell into a restless sleep. She awoke to the sound of birds outside her window. Other than that the house was quiet, no soft sound of Jack snoring beside her or Jazz downstairs getting any early start on college entry essays. She turned over to look at the red glowing numbers of the clock; it was around 7 in the morning. As much as she wanted more sleep, she should go downstairs in case Phantom tries to escape when he wakes up. Maddie sighed, looking at the empty spot in the bed besides her. She wished Jack were here, to act as her partner in dealing with Phantom and Danny. Even if she called him right now and asked him to come home right now, he would not be able to get there for another two days at least. She would just have to do with do her best to deal with this on her own.

Maddie stood up. After going to the bathroom, she changed out of her pajamas and into her blue hazamat suit. Situating her red googles on her head, Maddie studied herself in the mirror. She looked ever the professional ghost hunter and scientist, her face not betraying the lingering ting of worry she still felt. As desperate as she was to get information, she needed to remain calm and professional. While she promised Danny she would give Phantom a chance, she feared the ghost would try to use that desperation against her.

Turning to go downstairs, Maddie hoped Phantom was still asleep so she would have the chance to observe him in that state. If Maddie was honest, though she did not like the circumstances, she was looking forward to the chance to study Phantom and learn more about ghost in general and the anomaly that was Phantom specifically. She quietly walked down the hall and checked on Danny again, sighing in relief to find him safe and in his bed asleep. She walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen. She contemplated making coffee (she definitely needed to caffeine) but did not want to wait. Instead she settled on one of the energy drinks Jazz keeps for when she worked late on school work. It may taste disgusting but would wake her up. After downing the drink and a granola bar, Maddie walked down the stairs into the lab.

The lights were dimmed with the green glow of the portal and Phantom's white aura boosting the other artificial lights. Phantom was still lying on the cot in the containment unit, facing the portal. With his back to her, Maddie studied to ghost. He appeared to be asleep which frankly surprised Maddie; they had never observed a ghost sleep before and had hypothesized that ghosts did not sleep. But maybe their hypothesis was wrong or Phantom was different. She walked forward until she was only a few feet from Phantom behind the glass. She could see individual hairs on his head and the way his suit wrinkled around him, even the stitching visible.

Maddie walked around the unit to Phantom's front. The first thing she noticed is that the suit had repaired itself. The hole in the chest where she shot him had disappeared. This was not all the surprising; from eye witness accounts and collecting his ectoplasmic debris after fights Maddie knew Phantom had been cut and had bleed before but the suit appeared in perfect condition by his next sighting. The suit itself looked familiar though. Maddie tilted her head to the side. It resembled one of their hazmat suits. Putting away that observation for later, Maddie noticed something more intriguing. As she watched the ghost's chest, she saw it slowly rise and fall as if he was breathing in sleep. This should not be possible at all. Ghosts have never been observed to breath; even if this was a mimicry and he did not need air, ghost did not even have lungs. The inhalation and exhalation of gas like this should not be possible, especially while Phantom was seemingly unconscious. Maddie blinked in confusion. Surely she was imagining this. But no her eyes feel on the ghost's face where she saw his hair blow out of his face with each breath.

Hardly believing this Maddie moved as close to the glass as possible and kneeled to be at the ghost's eye level. He looked so real and solid. So human like a sleeping child. His face was nuzzled in his pillow with a peaceful expression on his face. Maddie tensed when he moved, fearing he would wake up. Instead, nose wrinkling, Phantom mumbles, "Where is my lizard friend?" Did he just talk in his sleep? Maddie was dumb founded. This was absolutely adorable and strangely familiar.

Maddie studied Phantom's face. His disheveled hair, the curve of his nose, the freckles on his cheeks. Maddie's blood ran cold. She knew that face. The spacing between those eyes, the cut of that jaw, the tiny scar below those lips. Maddie stumbles up and backward. Of course she knew that face. She had look at it almost every day since the day he was born. She had looked at it last night at the dinner table. Maddie felt sick to her stomach. That was Danny's face. Phantom had Danny's face.

Heart pounding, Maddie stumbled to the lab bathroom. Not even bothering to turn on the lights, Maddie leaned over the toilet. Eyes starting to well with tears, Maddie fought keep her breakfast. Her mind was racing. Why did Phantom have Danny's face? It was not just the face either. The two were the same height and build. How had she not seen this sooner? What did this mean for her son?

Maddie closed her eyes trying to suppress her panic. Think Maddie. You cannot do anything about this. You need to try and understand this, to keep Danny safe. Maybe this was an effect of the anti-possession gun? It separated the two but forced Phantom to remain in Danny's form? No, that sounded ridiculous. But that alternatives were to awful. Either Phantom was a shape shifting ghost and using Danny's form to gain her trust and compassion. Or there was some connection between Phantom and her son that went deeper that just working together.

Damnit! She was not going to figure this out without more information. She needed talk to Phantom. Cursing herself, Maddie stood up to splash water on her face. Why could she do have noticed this sooner? Curse Phantom's elusiveness! Other than last night this morning was the closest she had ever been to the ghost. She and Jack would often see him from far away during ghost fights. But often by the time they arrived he was capturing the ghost in a Fenton Thermos and leaving. If fact he seemed to go out of his way to avoid them, fleeing at high speed when he saw them. Maddie had thought it was because of their reputation as ghost hunters. But maybe it was to hide this resemblance to her son.

Maddie clenched her fist; she wanted to go out there and torture the information out of Phantom. But she promised her son. How was she supposed to listen to anything Phantom says when he was looking at her with Danny's eyes? There was no way she could ever trust him, not really. Not when he was using her son's image like this.

Taking a calming breath, Maddie turns to the bathroom door but freezes when she hears a noise.

"No! No! No! Why am I in lab?"

It was Danny's voice. No Phantom's. Even his voice sounded like her son. Maddie peaked through the door of the bathroom, observing Phantom. In the darkness, luckily he could not see her.

Phantom was sitting on the cot, his head in his hands. "Okay, calm down. I can get out of here, easy peasy."

Phantom stood up from the cot. Maddie watched as white rings appeared around his waist. The rings traveled up towards his head and down towards his feet doing….Nothing? Phantom looked down at himself, lips pursed in frustration. "Come on!"

Was this what lets Phantom get through ghost shields, some type of attack?

The rings formed and traveled a second, and then a third time. Phantom was now panicking, hands searching his chest. "No! No! Where is it?! Where is it?!"

Maddie heard feet pounding down the stairs.

Another voice. "Hey, calm down. I could feel the anxiety from upstairs."

Danny jogged down the steps and stopped between Maddie and the containment unit so he was towards facing Phantom and away from his mother.

Phantom's eyes widened. "Holy Shit!"

Danny answered voice light and almost joking. "Yeah."

Phantom's shocked eyes study the human for a moment but then his face softened in understanding. "Oh."

"Do you remember what happened now?" Danny asked.

Phantom shakes his head yes. "Mom shot us."

Wait Mom? Phantom just called her Mom.

Danny answered. "Yeah, you got really hurt. I convinced Mom to take you home and let me help you. I don't think she saw everything and obviously doesn't know anything."

Phantom answered with sincerity." Oh. That's good. Thanks for that." Then putting his hands together, eye brow raised in questioning. " So…? Can you let out then? "

" You know I want to but if Danny Phantom suddenly go missing, Mom will know Danny Fenton did it. Then she'll be watching us closely for the rest of our life!"

Sounding disappointed. "Oh. That would make doing our job really hard."

"Yeah. But if he get HER to let you out then she'll just be watching us for the rest of the summer."

Voice raising in disbelief. "But she'll never do that!"

"I already got her to promise to hear you out. Maybe we can get here to trust you. Just talk to her. Offer to let her run some test."

"What! I'm not going to do that!"

"It'll be fine. She won't hurt you."

Pointing at the human, Phantom was huffing at displeasure at the human's suggestion. "You're not the one who's going to get dissected!" Danny's shoulders feel. Maddie could not see his facial expression but Phantom's quickly twisted into guilt in response. "I shouldn't have said that."

Danny's head was down, as if his eyes were fixed on the floor. "It's okay."

Phantom walked towards Danny, coming as close to the glass as possible and sat cross legged in front of Danny. He looked up a Danny. "No It's not. You have just as much reason to not want me to be dissected as I do." Danny sat down cross legged in front of the ghost. Phantom continued. "I know you wouldn't let her hurt me. We need to be together on this."

Danny questioned. "So you'll go with the plan?"

"Yeah. I'll talk to her. Try to be a truthful as possible."

"Without, you know, telling her the big thing."

"Yeah there's no way she'd believe us."

"And hey if she takes it well or figures out too much, we can eventually tell her everything."

Phantom's eyes lit up with hope. "You're right!"

Danny answered cockily. "I know I am."

"Oh Shut up you narcissist."

"I knew you loved me." Danny answered in a jovial tone. Maddie was thoroughly confused and wished she could see Danny's face.

In response to something (maybe Danny's facial expression), Phantom's face light up neon green. In a blush? "That is not what I meant you pervert."

Danny started laughing hysterically, while Phantom's face remained green in mortification. Danny slapped his knee and appeared to wipe tears from his eyes. "It's a jock. " Still laughing. "Mom thought I had a crush on you."

Phantom was still blushing but his mouth started to turn up into a grin. "That's disgusting."

"That's what I said."

At this point, Phantom broke into a laugh. Both boys were laughing hysterically. Maddie continued watching in confusion, feeling like she was missing something. It was funny but not that funny. Maybe there was an inside joke? After a few minutes the laughter died down. Phantom was now smiling at the human. "We definitely need brain bleach now."

Danny shook his head. "Tell me about it."

Phantom opened his mouth but Danny cut in. "Please don't. My half of that image is enough for now, ya Poltergeist."

Phantom giggled.

Danny crossed his arms. "So are you going to tell me the rest of that thought, from before we jump in this horrible black hole?"

Phantom replied with a grin. "I don't know. Nothing can escape from a black hole."

Danny huffed. "Haha very funny. Come on. I can't just automatically know what you are thinking like normal. You've got to tell me."

Phantom gave in, answering with renewed hope. "If this goes well and Mom figures everything out, no more double life. No more having to hide from Mom and Dad. No more hoping their inventions don't hurt us."

Also full of hope Danny continued. "No more having to sneak out to fight ghost. Or hiding injuries. No more having to lie to them all the time."

Phantom's face looked wistful. "I want that. Man, I really want that."

Danny answered voice unsure. "I mean knowing Mom, she'll figure it out."

Phantom's face dropped at that, eyes on the floor. "Oh, she's going to feel really guilty when she does."

Voice steady Danny replied. "She can handle it. Plus we deserve a chance for things to get better. To be accepted."

Phantom looked directly at the human with focused eyes. "Yeah we do. So the plan? I talk to her, offer to take some tests, give some samples. You talk to her too. Come at this from both angles. What did you tell here by the way?"

"I told her I was helping you fight ghost by letting you overshadow me. I said it was my idea and you just want to protect the town. She knows we know each other very well. And…. that'all actually."

"Okay, We get Mom to trust me and let me out. And before we know it, we'll be back to normal."

"Normal, when have we ever been normal?" Danny answered sassily.

"Well normal for us!" Phantom grinned.

Danny also grinned and then stood up. "Sounds good. You should try to get some more sleep before Mom gets down here."

Phantom also stood up and walked towards the cot. "You should too."

Giving the ghost a wave, "I will. We've got this. See you on the other side." He then headed up the stairs and Phantom laid down on the cot, facing the portal.

Maddie stayed in the bathroom contemplating what she heard. Apparently, there was more going on between them than she was told and whatever it was they did not think she would believe them if she knew that truth. She was skeptical of that, but then again a lot of what they said and how they acted did not make sense. Why did Phantom call her mom multiple times? Why did he think she would feel guilty about something related to him? What were these rings of light? What did Danny mean by feeling the anxiety and normally knowing what Phantom's thinking? And why does Phantom look like Danny?!

The lack of Danny's reaction to that was really getting to her. How could he not see? Or maybe he did see? Since he did not react tonight, maybe Phantom always looked like Danny. She did not like that idea. Why would Phantom do that and how was Danny okay with it? Maddie decided she would not ask either boy about that yet. She would continue observing Phantom. They planned to get her to trust Phantom? Fine but she was not going to blindly do that. They would have to work for it. Sitting down and closing her eyes, Maddie leans against the door. She should wait until Phantom was asleep to leave and then take some time to prepare questions. Maddie closed her eyes and waited.


	4. Chapter 4

After about 30 minutes, probably long enough for Phantom to fall back asleep, Maddie stood up. She peered through the crack in the bathroom door and found that Phantom was still laying down, facing away from her. Shoot! She could not see if he was asleep. Tired of hiding, Maddie decided to risk leaving. After opening the door, she walked towards and around the containment unit to find that the ghost was in fact sleeping. Breathing a sigh of relief, Maddie realized she had time to compile her thoughts and make more observations of Phantom. The scientist grabbed her notebook and clip board. Then after quietly placing a chair in front of the containment unit, Maddie sat down in front of the sleeping Phantom.

Maddie started by making a list of the things she had observed and learned about Phantom tonight. These included:

_Very detailed, human-like appearance. Identical to Danny Fenton_

_Had been possessing Danny Fenton for an unknown amount of time and with unknown purpose_

_Appears to display a variety of emotions-panic, worry, jovialness, wistfulness, fear, embarrassment_

_Capable of making and understanding jokes and humor_

_Displays physical reaction to injury- suggesting pain sensation_

_Appears to sleep Appears to breath during sleep, can cough_

These observations, combined with what she already knew about Phantom, lead to a list of questions to pose to the ghost. Noticing the ghost was still asleep, Maddie decided to take some other readings. They already had a copy of the ghost's ectosignature on file but Maddie recorded it again. Curiously, his power reading was significantly lower than the last recording; the reading decreased from 7.4 to 6.5, almost an entire point. Did the ectogun really injure him that badly?

Frowning, Maddie looked at Phantom. There was not much else she could record without risking waking the ghost. Maddie picked up her pencil. She might as well draw a sketch of him. Ghosts were notoriously hard to photograph so the only sure way to record what they looked like was a drawing. After closely studying the ghost's face again, she sketched, recording the freckles across his cheeks and nose, the lines of his face, the messy hair. She became absorbed in the activity, frantically recording everything she could. After an unknown amount of time had passed, Maddie paused in her drawing. She wanted to cry; this drawing just emphasized the similarities between the ghost and her son. Not ready to wake the ghost yet, Maddie decided to attempt to photograph Phantom as well. After walking to a set of shelves above her work space, the scientist grabbed the camera she and Jack used to record experiments. Maddie then returned to her chair and pressed the button on the camera to capture the image with a bright flash. Maddie flinched. Hopefully the light would not wake the ghost. However luck was not on her side. Phantom scrunched his nose and farther nuzzled into the pillow.

"Uhhh Mom. Five more minutes." Phantom sleepily groaned.

Dumb founded with wide eyes, Maddie remained still at the familiar reaction but stared at the ghost. Opening his eyes, his bleary glaze meet hers and then fell on the portal behind her.

Eyes widening, the ghost shot up on the cot, into a sitting position. "Uh… Hi."

The pair's eyes fixed on each other. She was not proud of how shaken she was by the interaction. Phantom had called her mom again. Granted, he was half asleep but Maddie could not fathom what that meant. Maddie took a calming breath. As difficult as the upcoming conversation would be, she needed to be calm and professional.

Suppressing her uncertainty, Maddie inquired. "Did you sleep well Phantom?"

Surprised at the question, Phantom's neon green eyes searched her face. He bit his lip and shrugged. "Okay. I guess."

Maddie shook her head in acknowledgement. "I see you have yet to try to escape." Maddie observed.

Trying to appear calm, the ghost replied. "Yeah. There's no point. I'm sure you built this sturdy enough to keep me in." Phantom continued with surprising sincerity. "Plus, you could get really hurt if I use one of my more destructive powers to get out."

Maddie looked at him questioningly. Of course if he wanted her trust, not injurying her would be beneficial. However, could he really be sincere? She decided to ask about what she was really wanted to know next.

Crossing her arms,she flatly asked. "How did you get my son to work with you?"

Phantom bit his lip. "Umm…. It's a long story."

With an eyebrow raised, Maddie motioned him to continue. "We've got time."

Phantom's hand went up to rub the back of his neck, a motion Maddie was very used to seeing in her son when he was nervous. "Well. It went like this. About like a month after your portal opened, this lunch lady ghost showed up at the high school, right. She was super mad that Sam, some random girl at the school that I totally don't know and definetly don't like, well she changed the lunch menu. Ummm….So this creepy ghost trashed the kitchen and kidnapped her. So I flew down to the basement and fought the lunch lady. Danny and his other friend managed to get Sam out. Umm….So the next day, the crazy lunch lady shows up again right. She has this giant meat puppet, not like a possessed person meat puppet. But uhhh…like hamberger. Not like a actually cow though. It was like raw hamberger meat. One of the grossest thing I've ever …. I flew around and punched the ghost a bunch of times. She almost knocked me out but I mananged to catch her in the thermos in the end." Phantom snapped his mouth shut.

Maddie stared at the ghost trying to process the painfully akward rambling. The entire explanation - the wording, the tone, the body language -was so like her son. Having no idea what to do this observation, Maddie latched onto the first question that poped into her mind.

"A thermos as in a Fenton thermos? Where did you even get a Fenton thermos?Did you steal it?" Maddie pointed at the ghost accusingingly.

Phantom put his hands up. "No! Mr. Fenton threw it at my face!"

Narrowing her eyes, Maddie asked."What?"

"I'm serious. He yelled something, threw it, and it hit me in face."

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers. " That sounds like something Jack would do." Moving her hand from her nose and into a shrugging, Maddie sighed. "When that happened, the thermos was a nonfunctional did you even get it to work?"

"I charged it with my own ectoenergy."The ghost flatly replied.

Nodding in understanding, Maddie asked sternly. "You told me how you meet my son but how did you get him to start working with you?"

Phantom frowned and crossed his arms, tone annoyed. "I didn't get Danny to work with me. He wanted to help."

That matched what Danny said earlier. Not sure if she should believe him, Maddie continued. "That may be so but how did it start?"

"Ghost keep attacking the school and we both happened to be there. Danny wanted to help me. He's actually really good with an ectogun."

Maddie was skeptical."Really? Just like that?"

"Yeah. We both just want to protect Amity Park and can do that together."

Crossing her arms, Maddie replied. "I can understand Danny wanting to protect people. He's always wanted to help anyone he could. But what about you? What could you possible get from fighting other ghosts to protect this town?"

For some reason, Phantom looked hurt. "Is it so hard to believe that I don't have an ulterior motive? That I just want to help?"

Slightly exacerbated, Maddie narrowed her eyes. "Yes it is. You ghost never do anything because of altruism. There's always a motive, like protecting a lair or haunt. Is that what this? You're trying to control Amity Park, claim it as yours by keeping the other ghosts out?"

"I'm not trying to control anything! That doesn't even make sense!" Phantom responded, raising his voice. " If I was trying to keep other ghosts out, then why do I let the same ghost come back again and again?!"

Maddie wrinkled her nose. He did have a point. Phantom was powerful enough to destroy most of the ghost that commonly showed up around the town and so keep them from returning; but he did not stop them, instead he just captured them.

"Okay then. It's your obsession. That would even match your image- a superhero with a symbol, jumpsuit, and clever quips. Your obsession compelles you to fight other ghost and 'protect' the town so you can be seen as a hero."

Phantom frowned in annoyance, floating a foot above the cot. "I don't have an obsession. That's not even how obessions work anyway. An obsession don't make you do anything. It's like a purpose. You're happier if you pursue it but you can ignore it and approach it a lot of different ways. But it does not force you to act a certain way."

Maddie's anger was starting to flare. "Phantom, I'm a scientist. I know how obessions work and know you have to have an obsession."

Crossing his arms, Phantom was the perfect image of a pouting teenager. "Well, I don't have an obsession and you don't know anything about this."

Maddie sighed. This could easily turn into an arguement. She needed to get more information about his relationship with her son, not debate with him over the nature of ghostly obsessions. "Fine. Say you don't have an obsession and really just want to help people. Then why are you fighting ghost in Amity park? You could go anywhere else. Why stay here?"

Phatom uncrossed his arms and floated forward in the unit, closer to her. With suprising passion, he answered. "Mrs. Fenton, Amity Park is my home. I lived here. I chased my big sister around the yard with the water hose when I was little. I meet my best friends at the playground in the park when I was four. I went to school here. Ate at the Nasty burger, went to the movies and the pier with your friends. I went to the planetarium with my parents." The ghost looked nostalgic, like he was savoring old memories. His voice then lowered into a whisper, tone sorrowful. "I died here but got to come back. Of course, I wanted to protect my home when other ghost started threatening it."

While Maddie was sure the passioniate explanation was meant to passify her, it instead made anger boil in her. This ghost had been putting her son at risk and had been contradicting her at every turn. Then, he gave this little speech. His eyes blazed with passion, exactly like Danny's did when he talked about space. It made her so angry, this ghosts wearing her son's face like that and pretending to actually care about Amity Park. Why did he have to be so difficult and not just confess that he had an agenda?!

Maddie crossed her arms, voice flat and cold. "Bullshit. I don't buy it. Maybe I'm wrong about how obessions work. Maybe you actually don't have an obsession. But you don't have memories of growing up in Amity Park."

At this the ghost frowned and shook his head. Phantom yelled. "But I remember it! I remember living here!"

Maddie's voice remained cold. "But you didn't live here. Do you know what ghost's are, what you are? A ghost is just the imprint of a human's last moments of life. You were never alive."

Phantom froze, eyes glistening. "But.. But.. that's not true! You don't know what you're talking about!"

At this Maddie's anger flared. "No you don't know what you are talking about! I have studied ghost for twenty years! I am one of leading paranormal researchers in the world. How dare you suggest you know better than me?"

Phantom argued, voice ringing with indignation. "Oh, So you've actually talked to ghosts, right? You know what's it's like to be like this! All you have are assumptions. You've studied a few ghost, all that have happened to be violent, and think you know everything. You know nothing! There is so much more going on here than you know and when you figure it out, you are going to regret everything you've said and done here!"

"Quite trying to act human so I feel sorry for you! Everything about you is fake. You are a mimicry, an echo of someone's last moments. You do not have your own memories or emotions! You are a copy at best, and an incomplete one at that! You disgust me!"

"I did not ask for this! I did not ask to die. And I have been through so much shit since this started. I've been hunted, shot at, tortued. I've been captured and experimented on by a mad man multiple times. I've been mind control, put in prison and framed. I've watched my friends and family almost die multiple times because of me. I even saw them actually killed and the world destroyed because I made a simple mistake! I got lucky and stopped that but it still happened! I still have nightmares about it! And All I've wanted to do this whole time is help people but they scream and run away when they see me! Half of the town hates me and my own mother doesn't even recognize me! Do not tell me that what I feel is not real!" At this point, Phantom's rant was chocked out by a sob.

Maddie stared at the ghost in shock with wide eyes. Neon green tears were streaming down his face, and his nose appeared to be running. The ghost floated back over to the cot and layed down.

Trying to salvage the conversation, Maddie called softly. "Phantom."

Tears continued to stream down the ghost's face. "I don't want to talk to you. Leave me alone."

"I'm sorry…"

"No! You are not sorry! I'm not even real to you. You won't even listen to me. Leave me alone!"As Phantom's voice quivered with emotion, his words increased in volume until the last word vibrated like one of his sonic attacks. The unit shook faintly with the sound and Maddie tensed, but it was clear the sound was from the ghost's emotions, not an attack. Phantom then turned over to face away from her.

Maddie's stomach notted as she watched the ghost bury his head in the pillow and weep. She had a flashback to a few months ago. She and Danny had a fight about his falling grades and missing curfew earlier that day. He came home trying to hide injuries. Later, long after he should have been asleep, she heard him crying in his room.

_She sat at the foot of his bed. "Danny, sweetie. Tell me what's wrong."_

_He was laying down on the bed, tears streaming down his face. "I don't want to talk about it."_

_"What ever it is, I promise I'll understand. Baby, please talk to me."_

_"No. You won't understand. You'll hate me."_

_"Danny,I could never hate you. I just want to tell me!"_

_"No, I'm already a disappointment. You'd hate me if you knew."_

_"Danny. That's not true. I will always love you. Just talk to me."_

_"I don't want talk to you. Leave me alone." Tears still falling, he turned his back to her and refused to respond after that._

While the tone was different, Phantom's words, facial expression, and body language were the same- a perfect reproduction of that moment. Not for the first time in the last two days, he perfectly reflected a hurt child, her hurt child. This time, instead of making her angry, the resemblance caused her heart to clinch with a storm of guilt and sadness. Her mind argued that this must be false, an imitation meant to make her fall for his the display was so real, too real to be an illusion. What if she was wrong? Wrong about Phantom's motivation, his emotions, his memories. What if he was really different, and more human than she even thought possible?

Maddie shook her head. She thought. 'What are you Phantom? What am I going to do with you?'


	5. Chapter 5

After putting her notebook back at her desk, Maddie walked back upstairs. It just felt wrong to stay there watching the ghost cry. She would give him some time to calm down, and give herself some time to think about everything, and then return with more questions.

Maddie entered the kitchen; she might as well get some coffee and food while her waited. She walked over to the coffee maker. After scoping grounds into the filter and adding water, she set the machine to drip. She then opened the cabinet and grabbed a box of cereal and a bowl. After getting milk from the fridge, Maddie poured cereal and then milk into the bowl. The coffee maker then beeped and she grabbed a mug, the Number One Mom mug Danny had gotten her for Mother's day a few years ago, and poured the coffee. She took a seat at the table with her black coffee and cereal.

Frowning into her bowl, Maddie picked at her food. Her heart clinched with guilt. She had messed up horribly, berating Phantom like that. She had been down right cruel, calling him a disgusting copy and claiming he was faking his emotions. Phantom was right. Even though he was a ghost, treating him as less than human was wrong. She may have studied ghosts for years but that did not mean she should claim to know everything about ghosts and she should definitely not claim to know what existence was like for Phantom. She did not know if he really did not have an obsession or was in denial and did not know what it was. She did not know whether or not his memories and emotions were real or an imitation. No matter the truth, these issues did not matter right now. Phantom thought he was protecting his home, the town he grew up in. The emotions and memories he had felt real to him and he completely believed they were real, even if Maddie questioned them.

Maddie sighed and took a sip of her coffee, frowning at the bitterness. She stirred in some sugar and milk and took another sip.

"Much better" Maddie mused.

Maddie thought more about Phantom's behavior. He was definitely different than other ghosts. All the other human-like ghosts she and Jack had captured had been much more aggressive. They always tried to escape immediately and ranted about their powers and obsessions. Like that box obsessed specter, the Box Ghost, he had yelled about how he could not be kept in a cubed container and how she would face his cardboard doom. Phantom had acted nothing like this. He never tried to escape and never ranted about wanting to take over the world or anything ludicrous. He had been for the most part rational. And hadn't he told her son he was going to be honest? Despite his ghostly appearance, he had not acted like a manipulative ghost. She still did not know what to think about his resemblance to her son. He did not use the resemblance to outright manipulate her as she expected. On the contrary, the similarity somehow made him seen more real. He perfectly acted and talked like a teenager, like a child. Did that mean that he actually thought like a child?

Maddie's jaw dropped. For all intents and purposes, he was a child. Treating Phantom like a malicious ghost set on tricking and manipulating her wouldn't work because he was not one. He was a child, a child who thought he was doing the right thing but had no adult support and as such had made mistakes. Right then Maddie decided she would try a different approach. She knew how she would get information about her son's relationship with Phantom and even how she could help the ghost.

Maddie finished her coffee and her cereal. She looked at the clock; she had come up stairs about 30 minutes ago and it was 10 am now. Maddie bit her lip. She wanted to give Phantom a little more time before she talked to him again. Moving to the bookshelf in the living room, Maddie choose a book. She might as well catch up on some reading.

About an hour later, Maddie headed downstairs again. Phantom remained laying on the cot, facing the portal. After grabbing her notebook again, Maddie walked back to her chair in front of the ghost. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be sleeping again. Maddie sat down, observing him and thinking about how she would approach the upcoming conversation.

"Will you stop staring at me?" Phantom's voice was biting. He slowly opened his eyes and glared at her. "If you're going to insult me, I don't want to talk to you."

Maddie shallowed, guilt flaring in her gut. Her eyes flicked to the ghost's face. There were tear tracks on his cheeks. Phantom sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve. At seeing ectoplasmic snot transferred to the clothing, Maddie frowned. She put her notebook down on the floor, stood up, and retrieved a box of tissues from her desk. Looking at the ghost with soft eyes, Maddie opened the door to the unit. At hearing the door open, the ghost turned over to face Maddie and the door. She placed the box inside and closed the door. Sitting up slowly, Phantom tilted his head in confusion.

With a quiet voice, Maddie gestured to the box. "To clean your face."

Phantom stood up, grabbed the box, and returned to the cot. Eyes narrowed in suspicion, the ghost studied the box. He pulled out a tissue, and seeing it appeared to be harmless, he wiped his face and blew his nose. He then balled up the used tissue and dropped it on the floor. The ghost continued to look suspicious, but less stern than before.

Quietly, Maddie addressed him. "I owe you an apology."

Phantom's glare softened, the tension in his eyebrows decreasing. "What?"

"I'm sorry. I said many cruel things to you earlier and you are right. It was wrong for me to assume I know about your emotions and memories better than you do. I have made assumptions and need to do a better job of listening and trying to believe you."

Phantom wrapped his arms around himself. He looked to the floor, his posture full of tension. "You really mean that?"

Maddie continued. "I can see that you are different from other ghosts and it is not unreasonable to believe that you are authentic in your motivations. You really do just want to protect Amity Park, don't you?"

Phantom's eyes meet hers. For several moments, he searched her face, probably trying to determine if she was sincere. Phantom's eyes softened and the tension in his shoulders fell. With a tinge of hope, he asked. "You really believe me?"

Deciding to be honest, Maddie reassured him. "Yes. While I still do not trust you completely, I do believe you. I think that you are a kid who yes has made mistakes but is trying to do what is right."

Hope remained in the ghost's eyes. "Thank you. That means a lot to me. I hope I can earn your trust."

Maddie's eyebrows raised, as she remembered her son making a similar statement last night. Putting that thought away, she continued. "We had a rough start. How about we start again?"

"Okay, I would like that." The ghost floated to his feet and moved closer to her. Sticking his hand out, as if asking for a handshake, Phantom smiled. "Hi, my name is Danny Phantom. It's nice to meet you."

Maddie's eyes widened in shock, both at the introduction and the first part of his name. She had forgotten about that. While almost everyone just called the ghost Phantom, when he had first publicly announced his name, he had included a first name, Danny. It was the same first name as her son as well. There must be some significance there. Maddie then looked to the ghost's hand and her eyebrows narrowed. The ghost also looked at his hand and then at the glass in between them. He gave her a sheepish grin and then the hand moved to rub the back of his neck. The ghost then chuckled, realizing his mistake.

Maddie could not help but laugh at the behavior. "Nice to meet you, Danny Phantom. My name is Maddie Fenton." She continued, taking a serious yet pleasant tone. "I would like to talk to you about your work defending Amity Park and my son's role in that."

The ghost floated back, posture relaxed. He shifted until he appeared to be sitting cross legged in the air, with his face at her eye level. "What do you want to know?"

"You told me earlier about how you and Danny meet and started working together. I would like to know more about what each of you contribute to this partnership."

The ghost's right hand rubbed the back of his neck again. "Well ummm. There's a lot actually. It's kind of complicated. I'm not sure I can explain it."

Maddie frowned at this. Was there relationship really so complicated that the ghost could not explain it? "Start simple. Earlier you said Danny was good with an ectogun. I imagine he supplies thoses."

"Yeah, that and other equipment sometimes. Like the Fenton phones. We use them to communicate sometimes." Maddie nodded; that made sense. Some of their inventions had mysteriously gone missing in the past. Phantom continued. "He also helps me empty the thermos into the ghost zone."

"So that's what you do with the ghosts you capture." Maddie replied, a look of understanding on her face. "So Danny supplies you with equipment, access to the portal, and information about our inventions as well, since you clearly know how to use some of them."

"Yeah, that about sums it up." Phantom nodded and shrugged.

"Then why do you overshadow him?"

"What?" Phantom's face flashed with fear. He floated further away from her.

Voice remaining calm, Maddie explained. "While I am still upset about that, I am not that angry at you anymore. I just want to understand. You can get the information and supplies you need without overshadowing my son."

"You see… I…We… Umm." Phantom stuttered.

"Phantom, just tell me I promise I will not hurt you. I just need to understand."

Phantom's eyes flicked from her to the floor. "Umm… It was an accident."

Maddie frowned and crossed her arms. "You overshadowing my son was an accident."

Voice slightly panicked, Phantom rambled. "No! Yes! Kinda….. The first time I didn't mean to. My powers were new and I accidently walked into someone while intangible and kinda… took over their body. From there, I quickly learned it was useful for getting out of sticky situations."

"So you took to overshadowing my son to 'get out of sticky situations'?" Maddie replied with disproval.

The ghost blushed green. "Yeah? He agreed to it and it helps me hide from ghost hunters."

Hide from ghost hunters? A realization struck Maddie. "That's how you disappear from our radars! Somehow, overshadowing a human hides your signature. That's what let you get past our shields too, isn't it?"

The ghost nodded, still refusing to meet her eyes. "Yeah, it lets me suppress my signature."

How exactly did that work? She had never observed a phenomenon like this before. And what was it doing to her son? Did that explain why their ghost hunting equipment went off around Danny? Maddie decided to put that on hold for the time being. "How long have you been overshadowing Danny and how often?"

"Umm…since a few months after I came through the portal. I only do it every some often, whenever I really need to hide from ghost hunters or am really weak from a fight." Phantom responded defensively.

"So what about last night?"

Phantom bit his lip. He rubbed the back of his neck. "We wanted to go flying."

Incredulously, Maddie inquired "Really?"

Sounding a little sad, Phantom explained. "Yeah. Danny has been really stressed and upset about having to go to summer school. It's a lot of work and he's disappointed that he did badly enough in classes to have to be here. So I wanted to take him flying. We always find it really relaxing and we were going to go the park and star gaze some too. But that stupid ghost snake showed up and ruined everything." At the end, the ghost's voice tinged with annoyance.

Part of Maddie was hurt; she wished Danny had talked to her if he was upset. She would have happily taken him star gazing to cheer him up. Part of her also understood though; Danny had wanted to spend time with a friend, a friend he knew she did not approve of. From the interactions between the two earlier and his sincerity now, Maddie knew Phantom really did wanted to cheer up and comfort his friend. "You really care about my son, don't you?"

Phantom looked shocked at the question. "Of course I do."

Maddie nodded relieved at his answer. "Then you understand why I need to ask you to no longer involve my son in your ghost hunting."

Phantom's jaw dropped. "What"

Gently explaining, Maddie continued. "Phantom, ghost hunting is dangerous. People can get hurt. My son could get hurt. You don't want him to get hurt, right"

Putting his arms up, Phantom's voice rose. "Of course not! I never want anyone to get hurt!"

Voice stern but calm, Maddie crossed her arms. "Then you can't keep dragging him into this."

Phantom's face fell. "That's not just my decision though."

"Danny is a child. As his mother, I can forbid him from hunting with you but if you still seek out his help, he will try to help you not matter what I say. To keep him safe, you need to keep him out of this."

Phantom's eyes widened. He argued, now with a hint of desperation in his tone. "But…but… I can't do this by myself! I need his help!"

Maddie shouted. "No you don't!" She then snapped her mouth. Clearly Danny was important to Phantom. To get him to leave her son out of this, she needed to give him an incentive. Maddie sighed. She hoped she would not regret this. "Look. I'm not saying you can't still be friends. But you can't overshadow him and you can't take him hunting with you. If you need hunting supplies or access to the portal, Jack and I can work something out."

Phantom's eyes widened in excitement. "Really!"

"Yes. I'll have to discuss it with my husband but was can start with a ceasefire and then may be work together on a trial basis. But you have to promise to not hunt ghost with my son behind my back."

At this Phantom's posture deflated. Looking at the floor, he quietly replied. "I can't do that."

Trying to push down her frustration, Maddie pleaded. "Look, I'm just trying to keep my son safe. I thought you would understand that. Earlier you said you had friends and family you wanted to keep safe. I am just trying to do that same thing. If you care about Danny at all, you will stop involving him in this."

"I can't!"

"Yes you can!" Maddie snapped back.

Phantom grabbed his hair with his hand. His voice filled with panic. "No. You're not listening. I can't. I literally can't."

"Can't?! What do you mean you can't?"

"Danny is involved in this whether you want him to be or not. We need each other. He just as much Danny Phantom as I am." Phantom replied with eyes pleading.

Frustration flared in Maddie. The ghost was not making any sense. What did that even mean?! Maddie's blood ran cold. Maybe earlier she had been right about their resemblance and what it meant. Phantom may not shapeshifting maliciously but this mimicry may have a much worse effect.

"You're connected to him. Aren't you?"

"No! I mean yes! Kinda. It's complicated."

Panic flared in Maddie's gut. This was bad, really bad. She had no idea what this connection even entailed, let alone what it was doing to her son. "I wanted to trust you! To help you! But you've been using my son! You've put him in danger! You're the reason he's always hurt and tired!"

"What! No. It's not like that! I'm not hurting him!"

Maddie's hands balled into fists. "Liar!"

"Why would I lie about this?! I've spent this whole time trying to get you to trust me! I don't want to hurt you son! I thought you knew that!"

Maddie opened her mouth, to continue berating the ghost but then heard feet pounding upstairs. Danny slammed the door open and ran down the stairs.

He stopped beside his mother and put his hand on her shoulder. "I heard shouting. Are you two okay?" Danny looked into the unit at the extremely relieved Phantom.

Maddie glared daggers at Danny. She was both angry at the ghost because of his connection to her son and at Danny of interrupting. "Did you know about this?"

Danny looked at her in confusion. "What?"

Pointing at Phantom, Maddie berated. "According to him, there's some type of connection between you two. Did you know about this?"

"Yeah. I know." Danny responded flippantly.

"You knew and didn't tell me!"

"Mom, we should go talk about this upstairs."

"No I want answers from Phantom. Now!"

Tugging her hand, Danny pleaded. "Please Mom. I can explain. I don't want you to do or say something you'll regret."

Maddie stopped and looked at her son, observing the tension in his face and worry in his eyes. She guessed he was worried about her doing something to hurt Phantom. She then looked at Phantom, the ghost her son was trying to defend, from her. How did this even happen? How did her son come to trust a ghost more than her? Maddie took a deep breath. Whatever he had to say, she would hear him out.

"Alright. Let's talk." Maddie turned to Phantom, who was still floating nervously in front of her. "This is not over. Depending on how this conversation goes, we'll talk later or I will be shooting you."

Phantom gulped eyes wide with fear. He quietly responded. "Yes Ma'am."

At this Danny shouted, sounding highly offended. "Mom! Stop! You're scaring him!" Danny then moved to stand in between her and the ghost. He smiled tenderly at the ghost. "Hey, it'll be okay. I won't let her hurt you. I'll get her to understand."

The ghost nodded, his eyes stilled fixed on the floor and posture tense.

At the lack of verbal response, Danny calmly pleaded. "Phantom, Look at me." The ghost continued to study the floor, so Danny continued. "Phantom…. Phantom. Hey, Look at me." Danny's voice then lower into a whisper, barely audible to Maddie. "Danny." At this the ghost's eyes neon green eyes meet her son's icy blue ones. Her Danny put his palm on the glass and the ghost then placed his hand across from Danny's on the other side of the glass. The hand's perfectly reflected each other. Her Danny continued. "We are going to get out of this one. Okay. We've got this."

At that proclamation, no that promise, Phantom nodded his head more vigorously. His eyes also filled with tenderness and his lips turned up into a sad smile. "I know."

The two stood (and floated) there for a few moments. Then after taking a deep breath, her son turned to face her. Flatly he stated. "We can go now." He began treading up the stairs.

Maddie looked at the still nervous but not as scared ghost, and then turned to follow her son.


	6. Chapter 6

Maddie walked up the stairs and into the kitchen. After watching the tender exchange, Maddie felt less angry but was still worried. All she was doing was trying to protect her son but he kept defending the very ghost that was putting him in danger.

She took a seat at the table where Danny was already sitting with his arms crossed. "You said you would give Phantom a chance."

"I did. I gave him a chance to tell me the truth."

"That's what that was? You were yelling at him and threatening him!"

"He admitted he was using you!"

"No he didn't. He said we have a connection. He told you something you didn't like and instead of listening and letting him explain, you made an assumption! You assumed he must be hurting me even though you don't know everything."

"And whose fault is that! If you actually told me what was going on then I wouldn't have to make assumptions."

"We didn't tell you because we knew you'd reaction like this! You assume that just because Phantom's a ghost he must be trying to hurt and manipulate me. But you're wrong!"

Maddie pleaded. "Honey, please I'm just trying to protect you."

"You don't have to protect me from Phantom!"

Maddie stopped. Clearly this was not getting her point across. Danny did not understand how harmful this connection to Phantom was. She needed to make him understand.

"Sweetie, I know you don't see it now but this connection is not a good thing. Phantom is a parasite."

"Mom! What does that even mean?"

"I can't believe I didn't see it before. Sometimes ghosts link themselves to objects or people to help keep them anchored to the real world and increase their power. They act as ghostly parasites, draining the energy, the life force from their hosts. That's what Phantom is doing to you. That's why you are so tired all the time. Phantom's a parasite."

Danny paled at this. "Phantom's not a parasite. He's more like a… umm… symbiote, yeah a symbiote. Except with no desire to eat criminal's heads." Danny half grinned at this but Maddie gave him a horrified look. He quickly frowned. "It was a joke. A reference to that movie with the reporter guy who bonds with an alien and gets super powers." Maddie continued to gape at him, not getting the reference. Danny then put his head in his hands. "Okay. It's a type of symbiosis. Mutualism- When two organisms consistently live together and both benefit from the relationship. We learned about it in biology."

Finally over her horror/confusion, Maddie crossed her arms. "Danny, I know what symbiosis is. If this is mutualism, then what exactly are Phantom and you getting out of this?"

"Well, you are kinda right that Phantom's anchored here because of me. And I do think he's more powerful because of me. But he's not draining me to do that. The most important thing though is I'm his link to humanity, the reminder of what it's like to be human."

Maddie gaped. Did that explain why Phantom looked and acted so human? Why he looked like her son? Was it because of his connection to her Danny? Stopping this train of thought, Maddie continued. "What about you? What do you get?"

Danny smiled. "Phantom gives me a purpose. We fight the bad ghosts, and can help people. He gives me the ability to protect the people I care about. Plus the access to ghost powers is awesome, especially flying."

Maddie contemplated this. She could understand how Danny would think this was a good deal. He seemed to gain some benefits from the arrangement and appeared to be okay with what he contributed to Phantom. Maddie still had many misgivings though.

"Ever if all that is true, Phantom could still be hurting you. He could be lying about what he gets out of this."

"Phantom's not hurting me. He's not lying."

"How do you know that though?"

"I just now he's not lying to me about anything."

"But you can't know that!"

"Yes I can. Phantom literally cannot be lying to me about this."

Maddie paused at the bold statement. Speaking gently, she implored. "I know you want to trust Phantom and think he would never lie to you but you have no way of knowing that for sure."

"Yes I do!" At this Danny's mouth snapped shut as if realizing he said too much.

Maddie gave him her best Mom look. "Please explain to me how you can possibly be so certain."

Danny bit his lip, debating what to say. Finally sighing, he stated. "We've been inside each other's heads."

Tilting her head, Maddie motioned him to continue.

"When Phantom's overshadowing me, we share thoughts. I know everything he's thinking and he knows everything I do. So he can't lie to me because I know everything about him."

"Danny that's ridiculous. That is not even how overshadowing works. I know from interviewing people in this town who have been overshadowed, that they don't remember anything that they did while the ghost was controlling their body. They definitely don't know what the ghost is thinking. "

"Well we're not exactly a typical case."

"Okay then what is it like?"

"Well, I don't have any memory gaps for one. I can see, feel, and remember everything that happens to me."

"But Phantom could still do anything with your body without you having any control. That's not okay."

Danny bit his lip. Pausing for a few moments, he continued. "But that's just it. Phantom can't make me do anything. I never loss control."

Maddie shook her head. That didn't make sense. Even if Danny was still aware of what happened when Phantom took control, which Maddie was still finding unbelievable, the very definition of overshadowing was a ghost taking control of a human's body. Therefore the human has to loss control of their actions. Unless Phantom was just passively hiding inside her son and not exerting control? Yet that had never been reported. And why would Danny or Phantom have not just directly said that?

"Mom? Mom. Are you going to say anything?"

Maddie had become lost in her own thought and failed to notice she was staring at him in confused silence. "Sorry. Sweetie, you're going to need to explain what you mean. This is all confusing me."

Danny chuckled. "Tell me about it. The relationship between Phantom and I is very confusing. We really don't know how half of this works but we know it does."

Maddie frowned, not liking the sound of that. "What do you mean by you never loss control?"

"Uhhh…I guess you could say everything Phantom and I do is a joint decision. We work together and both parts always have a say. So that way I have control of what's we're doing."

"But Phantom still has to take control to use his powers, though."

"But I know Phantom. I trust him."

"But you can't trust a ghost! That's the problem here. You may benefit from your connection and may know some of what Phantom's thinking. He may even take into account what you want. But he could still be lying and manipulating you. He could decide you are not useful to him anymore and turn on you."

Danny had been calm most of this conversation but at this his face blazed with fury. His hands balled into fists. "What do you want from us?! We've tried to be honest. We've tried to show you Phantom is trust worthy! But you still won't listen! Why are you assuming Phantom has to be lying?!"

"Because ghosts are manipulative! You know that Danny!"

"Not all ghosts are! Phantom's not!"

"I've studied ghosts for years. I know how they work!"

"No you don't! You're just making assumptions. And not even giving Phantom a chance!"

"We've already had this conversation. I don't want to hear it anymore."

"Well you need to. Whether you like it or not Phantom and I are connected. So this, what you're doing. Refusing to let go of your biases. It's not just hurting him. It's hurting me. I felt how you scared him earlier. He was terrified you would turn a gun on him and rip him apart. And I felt how you made him cry this morning. I don't know what you said, but I know it was cruel. We are trying to get you to understand, to mend our relationship, but you are refusing to work with us at every step!"

At this, Danny stood up, tears starting to well up on his face in a mixture of anger and sadness. "I know you think you are trying to protect me but you're not. If you can't accept Phantom, then you can't really accept me." He then jogged up the stairs and slammed the door to his bedroom.

At Danny's words, Maddie's stomach knotted with guilt. Earlier she had promised to give Phantom a chance and multiple times she failed to do that. She observed Phantom and came to the conclusion that he was being authentic but quickly threw that way when he said something she strongly disagreed with, something she did not understand and feared. She did the same thing with Danny, chalking up the things she did not understand about his and Phantom's relationship as lies. Because if it did not align with how she thought thinks worked a scientist and a mother, there was no way it was true right? But that was so arrogant. They were both right. This whole situation was like nothing she had ever seen before and it was ridiculous to expect it to make sense in that light. Maddie needed to change her thinking. If she didn't she could lose her son, and that was not expectable. She could not assume Phantom was guilty by default but needed to gather evidence. She needed to trust her son, and if her son trusted Phantom, she needed to try.

After taking 15 minutes to calm down, Maddie decided to go upstairs to talk to Danny in his room. Hopefully he would be willing to talk to her and this time she would try harder to listen. Maddie stood up and walked up the stairs. She knocked on his room and gently called. "Danny. Can we talk?"

Defiantly, Danny replied. "If you're just going to just tell me Phantom can't be trusted, I don't want to talk to you."

"No sweetie. I need to apologize and want you to tell me more. I promise I'll listen."

At this there was no response for a few moments but then Danny quietly replied. "Okay. You can come in."

Maddie opened the door to see Danny sitting on his bed. She walked in and sat beside her son. "You were right earlier. I'm sorry. I have not been fair to you or Phantom. I've done a horrible job of keeping my word that I would give Phantom a chance. I need to reexamine my assumptions and give both of you the benefit of the doubt. I promise to listen and trust you more."

Danny looked at his mother. "I forgive you. I'm sorry too. I should not have yelled at you like that. It's just it's really hurts to hear you talk about Phantom like you did. I understand that you've been trying to protect me but it still hurts, you know."

Maddie frowned, guilt swirling in her gut again. "I am sorry about hurting you. And hurting Phantom. I know he's really important to you. That's why I want to know more about him. Will you tell me more?"

In a serious tone, Danny answered. "I will. But I need you to promise me you'll apologize to Phantom too. I was serious about how much you terrified him this morning. He needs to know that you are going to try to trust him too."

With total sincerity, Maddie reassured him. "I promise. I will"

Danny leaned over and hugged his mother. "Thank you. That means a lot to me. "

Maddie gladly returned the hug. They stayed like that for a few moments and then broke apart.

"So earlier, you said a few times that you felt how scarred Phantom was. What did you mean by that?"

Danny looked down. "I felt his emotions. It's part of the connection we have. That's part of the reason I was so upset by you threatening him. It felt like you were threatening me. I know you would never mean to hurt me but it still hurt, hearing you say those things about and to Phantom."

Maddie frowned, not liking the knowledge that she had scared her son, even if it was through this empathic connection. "I imagine it works both ways, right?"

"Yes. It does."

Maddie nodded in acknowledgement. "How did this connection start anyway?"

At this Danny frowned and bit his lip, looking at the floor. "We're not really sure of the specifics but it was because of the portal accident." Maddie's expression fell. She took his hand as Danny shivered but continued. "Sorry, I don't like thinking about it."

Rubbing his back to comfort him, Maddie implored him. "Danny, what happened?"

"I got shocked by the portal when it was starting." Maddie nodded. She knew that already. "The portal started because of me and since Phantom was the first ghost to come out of the portal, we were linked."

"So you meet Phantom soon after the accident?"

"Yeah. It was around when that lunch lady ghost showed up."

"What did you think of him when you meet him?"

With a thoughtful expression, Danny explained. "He scared me at first. Not because Phantom was trying to be scary. He can't scare anyone to save his afterlife. But he was new and new things can be scary. I didn't know a lot about ghosts and what I did know from what you and Dad said about ghosts, well that scared me. Back then we both were scared though. Phantom hadn't been a ghost very long and didn't have very good control of his powers either so neither of us really understood what was going on." Danny paused here, uncertainty in his eyes.

"If you were scared, why didn't you tell your father and I about this at the beginning?"

"I was scared at how you would react. I mean yeah I didn't trust Phantom at the beginning either. But I saw really soon that Phantom was like me. Not a monster but a person. We were both scared and both cared about this town and wanted to protect it. It was obvious there was a connection between us and once I started accepting Phantom, I saw we were better and stronger together. "

"I see you've thought a lot about your relationship with Phantom."

"Yeah. Like I said earlier, we're complicated and have been through a lot. To make peace with everything, we needed to figure us out. Knowing how Phantom works and how our connection works helps us to be happier and stronger."

"You sound like you've been talking to Jazz. Does she know about this?"

"Yes she does. Don't be mad at her for not telling you though. I asked her not to."

At this both sat in silence for a while. Danny then inquired. "What do you think of all of this?"

Maddie sighed. "I don't know. I've learned a lot today but don't know how I feel about it."

Danny shook his head, understanding. Then he meekly inquired. "So is there any way you'd be willing to let Phantom go now?"

Maddie shook her head looking at her son with compassion. "Not yet honey. I see why you trust Phantom but we're not there yet."

Danny's shoulders fell. Sounding disappointed, he muttered. "I understand."

"Sweetie, It's not that I'll never trust Phantom but I'm a scientist. I can't just take your word that this connection to Phantom is not hurting you. It's possible that there could be negative effects neither of you know to look for or there could be long term effects. I need to do some research to make sure this is not hurting you."

Surprisingly Danny agreed with her, though he sounded uncertain. "Okay. You have a point. Just promise you won't hurt him. No painful experiments and you'll ask Phantom before you do anything?"

"Yes of course. I'll need some data from you as well. Nothing intrusive. Just a blood sample, some hair."

Danny nodded. "Yeah. And can you tell us anything you find? Also please don't try anything without telling us. You could hurt me and Phantom without meaning to."

While Maddie did not like the sound of that, she understood her son's concern. Hugging him again and kissing his head, she promised. "Of course Danny. I'm so happy you are trusting me with this."

Danny returned the hug, though he sounded a little guilty. "I am too Mom. Thank you for listening."

During the tender exchange, for the first time since before this started, Maddie felt at peace. Everything would turn out okay. She was sure of it. While she still needed to figure out the cause between the resemblance between the two boys, she knew she could figure all of this out. She could make sure her son was safe and mend their relationship. She could learn more about Phantom and why he was so unique. And hopefully, she would find her son was right about Phantom and that he was trustworthy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! We still have a ways to go with this story. I have four more chapters planned so you're going to have to wait a while for the reveal. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. This is my first multi chapter fic so any feedback readers could give me would be awesome. Until next time!


	7. Chapter 7

Mother and son remained in a tender embrace from a few seconds until Maddie heard Danny's stomach growl. She pulled away and asked, with a slight laugh. "Are you hungry?"

Danny blushed, but returned her grin. "Yeah."

Maddie stood up. "Let's fix some lunch then." She then ruffled his hair.

"Mom!" Danny groaned in mock annoyance.

Maddie smiled. "Come on sweetie."

She then started walking out of his room and motioned Danny to follow. Danny stood up and walked downstairs with his mother. Maddie stopped in front of the fridge. "I'll make us some sandwiches." She opened the fridge and grabbed some cheese, lunch meat, and condiments. She started fixing sandwiches: ham, cheddar cheese, pickles, spicy mustard and a little mayo for Danny and the same but without the mustard for her. At the same time, Danny grabbed some chips, a few cookies, and two water bottles from the pantry. After bringing the food and beverage to the table, the two sat down to eat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having finished her sandwich, Maddie relaxed in her chair as she happily listened to Danny ramble about some space video he had watched on Youtube last week. Maddie smiled, savoring the joy in his eyes and smile on his face. After all of the stressful revelations of the past 12 hours, the situation felt so normal; it was comforting to see Danny bounce back from the taxing situation so quickly.

Danny was grinning brightly and excitingly waving his arms. "…So the second target they picked was this supermassive black hole M87! It's 6.5 billion times more massive than our sun and super far away- 53 million light years! And scientist managed to take a picture of it this year!"

Then Danny's ramble was cut off by a sound from the lab. "Hakuna Matata!"

Maddie's head tipped in confusion. An echoing voice, Phantom's voice, was singing. And was that a Disney song? The song continued and Danny's face broke into a grin as he joined in, singing purposely off tone. "It's our problem freeeeeeee, philosophyyyyyyyyy. Hakuna Matataaa!"

As the verse continued, Danny was fighting back laugher but gave in by the end, doubling over mirthfully. Surprisingly, echoing laughter could also be heard from the basement. Maddie could not help the surprised smile that bloomed on her face as she watched the outburst. After the laughter died down a few moments later, Phantom shouted from downstairs with a slight wine. "Hey! Are you going to come down here?"

Danny shouted back. "In a few minutes." Noticing the confused look on his mother's face, he addressed her at normal volume. "He's really bored."

The surety of the statement made Maddie's smile fall into a more neutral expression. Tentatively she asked. "Did you…feel that?"

Danny nodded affirmatively, eyes stilled focused on her. "Yeah I did."

While Maddie had felt relatively happy and confident earlier, the conformation sobered her. She needed to get back to figuring out the truth behind the connection between the two and ensuring her son's safety. Meeting her son's eyes, she asked. "Would you mind coming downstairs with me for a few minutes?"

Danny shrugged "Okay."

The two then walked down the stairs. After quickly surveying the ghost who was floating on his back in the unit, Maddie walked to her workspace. With her back turned away from him while gathering materials, she asked. "Danny, sweetie can I take a few samples now?"

After hearing Danny clear his throat, Maddie turned to face him. Raising an eyebrow, he leaned his head to the side, motioning towards Phantom who was now floating up right and watching her nervously. Her eyes meet the ghost's and softened. She had scared and hurt him badly earlier and had promised her son an apology. Walking to stand in front of the ghost, Maddie sighed. "I know you have no reason to believe this but I am sorry for threatening you earlier. I have done a horrible job of listening to and trying to understand you." Her eyes flicked to the floor. "I understand if you are angry with me but I want to do better. Can you give me another chance?"

Phantom answered still slightly nervous but with a slight smile. "Mo.. Maddie. I think I can do that."

At that, Maddie looked up. Phantom had floated much closer to her so his hand was on the glass again. His eyes were level with hers and wide, filling with warmth and softness in some emotion she was struggling to identify. A little taken a back, she shallowed. "Just like that?"

The ghost shrugged. "Yeah. You've been trying to protect your son. I get that. But I never wanted to be your enemy. If you are willing to try, then so am I. What can I do?"

Maddie's eyebrow rose at the statement. "My son told me more about the nature of your connection to him. I want to make sure that you are not unintentionally hurting him. I would like to run some tests."

At this Phantom's eyes widened and he gulped nervously. "What kind of tests?"

Before Maddie could answer, Danny stepped forward and interjected. "Ectoplasm and hair samples. She promised nothing intrusive or painful. I agreed to have some samples taken too."

Phantom relaxed at Danny's answer. He then looked at Maddie and though still grimacing, agreed. "Okay. I'll do it."

Maddie looked to her son, still somewhat surprised at her son's interaction with the ghost. It was like he knew exactly what to say and do comfort Phantom. Then looking to Phantom, Maddie replied. "Thank you Phantom." Returning her gaze to her son, Maddie continued. "Danny can you go first?"

Danny nodded and then Maddie pulled up a chair. "Take a seat here while I get supplies."

Danny did so but tensed when he saw Maddie grabbed a needle and syringe. Voice wavering, he pleaded. "Do you…ummmm…have to use that?"

Maddie looked to the needle, inwardly chastising herself. She knew Danny really hated needles. When he was a child, anytime he got a vaccine he had screamed and cried at even the sight of the needle. Even as teenager, that fear and discomfort was still evident but she did not see an alternative. Giving him a soft smile, Maddie comforted. "Oh Sweetie. I can't get a blood sample any other way. I promise I will be gentle."

Danny bit his lip, eyes moving from her to Phantom. The ghost surprisingly also looked tense. Swallowing he gave the human a tentative smile and a thumbs up. "You've got this. It'll be over before you know it."

Swallowing Danny looked at his mother. "Just get it over with."

Maddie smiled and ruffled his hair. "That's my brave boy."

Danny blushed and gave her a half-hearted push. "Mom!" But remained seated.

Phantom also blushed and chuckled softly but made no comment.

While she felt his left arm for a vein, Maddie tried to distract him. "So tell me more about that black hole picture you were telling me about earlier."

At this Danny relaxed and answered excitedly. "Yeah. So the researchers used this huge network of telescopes called the Event Horizon Telescope to take that picture."

Phantom interjected into the conversation, with a wide grin. "Yeah! They had a bunch of telescopes focus on the same object at the same time so they act like a giant virtual telescope!"

Danny continued, now also grinning. "They have small telescopes all around the world. The two farthest apart stations were on the South Pole and France. So the diameter of the whole telescope was almost the diameter of the whole Earth!" His rambling stopped. "Hey Mom when are you going to take my blood?"

Showing him the test tube with about 5 milliliters of blood, Maddie chuckled. "You didn't notice while you were talking. I already bandaged you up."

Danny's mouth formed an O shape. Maddie chuckled again and reached for the scissors. "I'm going to get a hair sample now. Okay?"

Danny nodded and Maddie plucked a few hairs into a plastic bag.

"Is that it?" Danny asked.

Maddie shook her head. "Not yet. Let me check to see how high your ectocontamination is."

Using same device she used to measure Phantom's ectosignature earlier, Maddie scanned Danny. The machine beeped and Maddie frowned. He had a readable power level of 0.9. The signature was inactive and lower than even the weakest ghosts but matched Phantom's perfectly. Maybe that was left over from Phantom's earlier possession and may be this constant, low level exposure is what allowed him to handle ectoplasm in the RV without burning himself? But they had never observed anything like that in other victims of overshadowing. The previously possessed human would have very low level ectocontamination but it was unorganized, like the reading of latent ectoplasm extracted with the portal. Ectosignatures contained unique patterns, representing the electrical signals in the core of a ghost. The closest comparison to humans would be a brain scan of the structure and neuron signaling pathways in the brain. Each ectosignature was unique even between ghosts with identical physical appearances because the signature detailed the cognitive activity of their core. So Danny having an actual ectosignature, especially one identical to an identified ghost, should be impossible.

After few moments of silence, Danny asked. "What is it?"

After debating what to tell him, Maddie decided to be truthful. "Your ectocontamination level. It's much higher than what I've seen in any other human. And the signature, it's identical to Phantom's."

At this Phantom's and Danny's eyes meet each other as they shared identical worried but knowing looks. Clearly the two knew about this and knew what it meant which was exceptional since Maddie herself was not even sure what it really meant. Was there still more to their connection than they had already told her? There had to be. Deciding to not press the pair for more information, Maddie recorded the reading.

Turning to the ghost who was still studying her nervously, Maddie gently prodded. "Phantom, it's your turn now."

The ghost wrung his hands but gave in anyway. "Okay."

Maddie took her time to gather supplies again, this time choosing a phase proof needle and test tube for Phantom's samples. Turning back to face the ghost, the scientist noticed he had floated back to sit on the cot. He was leaned forward with tensed shoulders. Maddie walked to the door. If Maddie was honest with herself, she was a little nervous. This was the first time she would be in close quarters with Phantom when he was alert but she needed to trust that if Phantom wanted to gain her trust, then he would not hurt her. She took in a long breath and swallowed. "I'm going to open the door now."

Phantom nodded. Maddie then opened to door, walked inside, and stopped in front of Phantom.

Gently smiling, Maddie pointed to his left glove. "May I take this off?"

Trying but failing to return that smile, the ghost nodded again. "Yeah"

Maddie gently removed his glove and studied it. Except for the color and size, it looked and felt nearly identical to hers. In fact the entire suit resembled one of their ghost hunting suits, looking like an inverted version of Danny's white and black suit. Whatever happened to that suit anyway? Shaking her head to clear that line of thought, Maddie refocused on the ghost. "Phantom, can you roll up this sleeve?"

His posture relaxed slightly. "Sure"

After he rolled up the sleeve, Maddie gently grabbed his hand and observed the intricacies of his form, which still showed to be more detailed than other ghost's she had studied.. The hand was the same, pale flesh color as his face with visible cresses on the palm and on the joints of the fingers. Even the small cresses of fingerprints were displayed along with a web of faint green veins. She wondered if the cresses were identical to those of Danny's hand. Maybe the fingerprints were even the same. Eyes quickly scanning the features, Maddie turned the hand over as well. This was fascinating. On the dorsal side of his hand, he has small hairs and cresses at the knuckles and fingerjoints. He even had human looking fingernails. Maybe she should get a sample. The scientist was so lost in her thoughts that she let out a small yelp as Phantom hastily pulled back his hand.

Maddie looked owlishly at the ghost who bite his lip and blushed. "You're making me uncomfortable. Don't manhandle me like that."

Eyes widening, Maddie realized her mistake. She sincerely responded. "Oh. Of course, my apologies." After seeing the ghost slightly relax, Maddie pulled out the needle and continued. "I am going to take the sample now. Just try and hold still."

Eyes darting to the needle, Phantom swallowed and muttered. "Okay."

Maddie raised her eyebrow at the reaction, which was surprisingly similar to her son's. "Are you also scared of needles?"

At this Phantom's back straightened. "What? No of course not! Why… why would you ask that?"

Suppressing a chuckle, Maddie rolled her eyes. "You're as bad a liar as Danny is."

Frowning, Phantom muttered. "I'm only half the liar Danny is."

From behind Maddie, Danny started laughing hysterically. He pointed at the ghost and cockily raised his eyebrow. Phantom blanched but then his lips turned up in a grin. He chuckled lightly but then dissolved into a fit of giggle. Maddie looked between the pair and rolled her eyes again, again not getting the joke, though apparently the two shared a similar sense of humor. If they kept this up, she's get nothing done. She then gave her son a scathing look. "Don't you have homework to do?"

Wiping tears from his eyes, Danny replied. "Yeah"

Maddie put her hands on her hips. "Well go do it."

Grinning brightly, Phantom mocked. "Yeah I'm tired of seeing your face!"

"We have the same face!" At this giggling of the pair abruptly ceased as they shared twin deer-in-headlights looks. Danny paled and practically ran up the stairs. Staring after him, Maddie remained silent. So Danny was aware of the resemblance between him and the ghost, and was apparently comfortable enough to joke about it. She then turned back to the ghost who somehow also looked paler with his eyes trained on the floor. In silence, the scientist prepared the needle and syringe. She gently felt on the ghost's arm for a vein and was immensely surprised to feel the slow but steady pulse under her fingers. Choosing not to comment on it, she drew her sample.

As Maddie reached for the scissors, Phantom finally spook up but continued refusing to meet her eyes. "Ummm You're not going to say anything about… you know."

"No" Maddie flatly replied.

"Really"

Maddie gave no answer; he probably would not tell her the whole truth anyway. Or maybe she did not want to talk about it. Part of her was afraid of the answer, that his resemblance to her son was more than skin deep. Maddie cut a few hairs and let them fall into the bag. Phantom gave her a skeptical look but broken the silence after a few moments. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

Studying the ghost intently, Maddie let out a long breath. "How old are you?"

"17" The same age as her Danny.

"No I mean how long ago did you form?"

Finally looking at her, he answered. "About 3 years ago."

That was about how long ago the portal accident was. Maddie could not pin-point why but for some reason, the answer made dread ball in her stomach. There has got to be an answer somewhere here. She turned to leave the unit, returning to her desk with the samples and began making notes on what be observed before looking at the physical evidence.

About 5 minutes later, Danny came jogging down the stairs holding a stack of his comic books. He stopped in front of the unit and reached for the handle but paused before he pulled it. Maddie sighed. "You can open the door Danny."

He stepped in and stopped in front of Phantom who was leaning forward on the cot with his head in his hands. Looking up, neon green eyes meet icy blue.

Danny gave the ghost a tentative smile and held out the stack of comic books. "I figured you would get bored. Here." He lowers his voice as if he does not want Maddie to overhear. "I'm should not have ran out on you earlier. Are you okay?"

Phantom stood up. "Yeah. I'm fine." He took the comic books from the human and then placed then down. Gently grabbing Danny's wrist, Phantom pulled Danny to him and whispered in his ear. Danny leaned his head back slightly and his eyes widen with whatever Phantom said. Danny then leaned back towards the ghost's ear and whispered a reply. The ghost nodded and then Danny whispered something else. The ghost gave another nod and then pulled the human into a hug that Danny eagerly returned. Phantom whispered something into the human's ear one last time. Then pulling away, he gave Danny a comforting smile and patted him on the shoulders. Danny then held his fist up for a fist bump with the ghost happily gave.

Now speaking at normal volume, Danny grinned. "Enjoy the comic books." Then sticking out his tongue. "I'm going to go do homework."

Phantom wrinkled his nose. "Yuk. I am not jealous at all. See you later."

Danny exited the unit and then started marching towards the stairs until his mother called. "Danny." He flinched and turned to her with a guilty look. "Stay off of your computer and phone. Once you finish, you can vacuum upstairs."

Letting out a long exhale, he replied. "Yes Mom."

Maddie turned back to her work and Danny continued up the stairs, giving Phantom a last wave before disappearing into the kitchen. After finishing her written observations, Maddie turned to the ghost. He was reading one of the comic books and floating like he's lying on the couch upside down, with his tongue out like Danny does. The scene sparked motherly affection in her. Why was he so….Danny-like? Maddie huffed and put her head down on the desk. What was she going to do with those two? She had no idea what that whispered conversation had been about but they didn't want her to hear. They are obviously still keeping secrets. Maybe these samples she had gathered would give some answers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nearly 6 hours later and the samples had given her few answers, only more questions. She had run and re-run the tests but nothing was making sense. She looked at Danny's blood under the microscope and it looked normal except for the neon green ectoplasmic globules within about 5% of his red blood cells. Not floating within the plasma itself like albumin and other proteins would, like ectoplasm should. But it was integrated within his cells. Even centrifuging the blood should not separate it. At least the sample yielded the correct percentage of plasma, red blood cells, and white blood cells. But that ectoplasm remained. Morphologically the hair also looked normal but like the blood contained trace ectoplasm. The ectoplasm obviously must be from Phantom, hence his signature on Danny. Maddie shook her head. She would need more samples. Really Danny needed an entire physical, a DNA test to assess if the ectoplasm mutated his DNA, and a thousand other tests she did not have the equipment or the knowledge for. Worry knotted in her stomach; luckily Danny had never exhibited any symptoms of ectoache like Vlad did after his accident, but the ectoplasm could have a number of previously unknown effects. She would have to closely monitor his health from now on.

After making a list of other samples she should gather and tests she should run, Maddie focused on Phantom's results which provoked less worry than Danny's but were even more intriguing. He had what appeared to be a few red blood cell-like structures in his ectoplasm sample. They were even red in color. The hair was even more interesting. Even though the color was different, structurally the hair looked almost identical to Danny's and looked like it was in fact made of protein or something resembling it. Finally she put Phantom's ectoplasm through a molecules scanner to detail its composition. At first she thought it was contaminated so ran it again to the same results. It contained approximately 5% integrated real world material. She centrifuged it to try and separate the material but it remained after that was well. She would need to run more specialized tested to determine what type of material but that should not be possible at all. Ectoplasm was made out of a fundamental different type of matter than real world matter. It originated in the ghost zone, a separate but connected dimension from Earth and responded to completely different laws of physics, vibrating at a different frequency than all real world mater. The two could not stably bond with each other and if someone tried to force them too, they should destroy each other. But here in Phantom they were existing together. And, what if the real-world matter was what it resembled, organic matter? Organic matter could not infect ectoplasm, not like ectoplasm could infect a human body. But what other answer was there? Were there actual human red-blood cells and proteins in Phantom's ectoplasm and were those Danny's cells? If they were what did that mean for Danny? For Phantom?

How are the two connected so deeply that their very biology was influenced by each other?

Maddie rubbed her head. This whole thing, not just the science but the secrets, the revelations, it was giving her such a headache. Massaging her neck, Maddie groaned. She needed to keep going, to figure this out. May be she should get some aspirin and ask Phantom for more samples. Yes. That sounded like a plan. She should also test his temperature, ectoplasmic pressure, maybe listen to his core with her stethoscope….

"Mom? Mom."

And now Phantom was calling her again.

"Mom."

She looked towards the voice. It was her Danny, not Phantom. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave her an awkward smile. "Are you okay?"

Maddie nodded.

"I… uhhh… made some food if you're hungry."

"Oh Sweetie Thank you." Maddie stood up. Getting food sounded like a good break about now.

Danny started walked towards the stairs. "It's nothing fancy. Just Mac and Cheese."

At that Phantom dropped the comic book he was reading. He was still floating on his back. "Ooooo. Mac and Cheese! Bring me some!"

Maddie raised her eyebrow. Just another of Phantom's eccentricities. A ghost that liked human food. The excited grin and the posture were so Dannyish she could not help grinning.

Danny chuckled. "Will do." And then headed up the stairs with his mom following after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for this chapter I looked up information about that Black Holed Picture that was released in April. I figured Danny would be very excited about it so wanted to include some astronomy nerding out. Also because I anticipate some questions about this. The idea behind some of the ectosciency stuff here is anytime Danny is split, it is not 100 percent. So the human half is still a little ghostly and the ghost half is still a little human. Hence the mixed biology. Let me know if you have any other questions or comments. I really want you feedback since I am coming to the end of the story. I have 3 more chapters planned so I hope to be able to address any questions and rap up everything.


	8. Chapter 8

Maddie smiled into an almost empty bowl of mac and cheese. She had been surprisingly hungry but was now satisfied and happy that Danny had finished his homework like he said he would and had vacuumed like she asked. During dinner, they had chatted about school, homework, the latest books they read, summer plans and other boring, non-ghost related items. Now Maddie pushed her bowl away. It was about 8 pm. She still had a little time to run some more experiments. She stood up and started walking towards the lab.

Danny stopped her. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to run some more tests. Some of the tests I ran before were… inconclusive.”

“But… But… it’s already so late.”

“Is this because you don’t want me running anymore tests on your friend?” Maddie said with a knowing smile.

“Yes! No! I mean it’s kinda about that but you look really tired. You should get some sleep.”

Maddie crossed her arms. “I will. Just after I work a few more hours.”

“Okay. Just bring Phantom his food. And you should check his bandage.”

Maddie had completely forgotten about that. Nodding she agreed. “I’ll do that.” Ruffling his hair, she continued. “You can deal with the dishes. And take a shower. Your hair is awful.”

Danny huffed. “Okay Mom.”

As Danny started on the dishes, Maddie prepared a bowl for Phantom. She then headed downstairs.

Phantom was lying on the cot, just staring at the ceiling but jumped up when he saw Maddie. “Sweet. My mac and cheese!”

Maddie opened the door and placed the bowl inside. Then Phantom dug in. “Uhhh. This is so good.”

Maddie laughed. “It’s just mac and cheese.”

“But I’ve haven’t eaten in like 24 hours!” He continued eating ravenously.

Maddie frowned. Did that mean he got hungry? Did he actually need food? What about water? Grapping water bottle from her desk, she offered it to him.

“Oh. Thanks” The ghost eagerly took it and drank.

After watching him for a few moments and marveling at the human-like behavior, she decided to breach the topic she was interested in. “Phantom. I want to run a few more tests.”

Phantom froze with his spoon half way between his bowl and mouth. “Why? What did you find last time anyway?”

Maddie was somewhat surprised. She half expected him to fight her on this, without caring about the reason or being interested in the results. Maddie started pacing. “Well. A lot of your and Danny’s results did not make sense. An increased ectoplasm concentration in his samples and real world matter in yours. Not to mention Danny’s contamination level reading was identical to your ectosignature. I think with more tests, I can figure this out. I just need more samples.”

Phantom sighed and put down his spoon. Looking at her intently, his voice was full of sincerity and slight desperation. “Mrs. Fenton. I don’t think more tests are going to give you the answers you want.”

Maddie stopped, shocked at this statement. “What do you mean? Of course they can.”

Phantom frowned, wringing his hands with uncertainty. “I think you’re really close already. You just need to rethink what you already know.” The ghost paused for several moments and then continued, speaking more gently and quietly. “Earlier today, when Fenton made that comment, you didn’t say anything. That’s because you already had noticed the…resemblance between me and the other Danny. I’m right, aren’t I?”

Maddie crossed her arms. “So what? I still don’t know what it means. I’m still not convinced you’re not choosing to look and act like my son to play with my emotions.”

Phantom looked hurt at that. “I would never do that, especially not to you.”

Putting her hand on her forehead, Maddie gritted her teeth. “How do I know I can trust you about this?”

“You know me.”

“No I don’t.”

In the blink of an eye, Phantom floated right in front of her, his mesmerizing neon green eyes inches from hers. “Yes you do. That’s the problem. You do know me. You’ve known me as long as I’ve existed. You just haven’t realized it yet.”

Maddie suppressed a groan. This ghost was not making any sense, again. She was too tired and low on patience to deal with him. Massaging her forehead, Maddie narrowed her eyes and pointed at him. “Fine. I won’t do with any test tonight but I need to check you bandage.”

The ghost floated back and crossed his arms. “That’s actually a good idea. Thank you.”

As Phantom floated back to the cot, Maddie grabbed new bandages and opened the door.

Standing in front of the ghost, Maddie instructed. “Unzip your suit please.”

The ghost reached forward and grabbed the hard to see zipper. The black fabric parted. Phantom then removed his gloves and worked his arms out of his sleeves. Maddie carefully removed the bandage. Her eyes went wide. “There’s.. there’s nothing there. It healed completely.”

Phantom looked down with a surprised smile. “Well what do you know! Not even a scar.”

At that comment, Maddie’s brow furrowed. There was a scar on his chest though. It resembled the branches of a tree or lightning bolts traveling from his chest, down his arm, and to his right hand, where it ended with a starburst pattern. For a reason that was just on the edge of her perception, it sent fear and dread down her spine.

She reached out and gently touched the part of the scar on the ghost’s arm. He was surprisingly solid and only a little cooler than a human. Realizing she could not feel this scar through her glove, she took it off, not caring that this was breaking every research protocol. With her bare hand, she could feel the raised texture of the scar and the electricity underneath the extremely human-like skin. Voice trembling, she asked. “Where did you get this?”

Phantom shivered with eyes fixed on the floor. “It’s my death scar.”

Maddie gulped, voice quiet. “How did you die?”

Phantom looked up. With haunted eyes, he looked behind her and whispered. “I was electrocuted.”

Slowly, she turned to where his eyes were focused. The portal, where Danny had his accident, where Danny had been electrocuted. Her hands were shaking. It was a Lichenburg figure and was identical to Danny’s after the accident. After she found him passed out on the floor and had taken him to the hospital, Maddie had seen one on Danny, one identical to the scar now on Phantom’s skin. Knowing Phantom’s resemblance to Danny, it should not have been a surprise, except this scar has disappeared on her Danny. Somehow before they left the hospital, it had disappeared. Maddie half thought she had imagined it but here it was on a ghost. She felt like crying or screaming, the dread swirling in her gut. She felt like the answer was here but it was spilling through her fingers. She could only catch glimpses as it swirled around her head refusing to stop so she could make sense of it. Slowly she heard a voice calling her name. “Mrs. Fenton! Maddie! Maddie!”

A cool hand was on hers. Her eyes fixed on the face in front of her, the green eyes staring into her soul. “Are you okay?”

She tried to respond but was fixated on the face, Danny’s face. This ghost with Danny’s face, Danny’s voice, Danny’s mannerisms, Danny’s personality, and now Danny’s scar.

“You should probably get some sleep. You look deader than me.” And those eyes, that look, that emotion, she knew it. Was that love in his eyes? He had said that she knew him but what did that mean?! Her mind was still struggling to put together all the pieces.

Phantom had put the top part of his suit back on and stood up. He put his hand in her and gently pulled her towards the door. “Come on. I’ll see you in the morning.”

As her tired brain struggled to reaction, Maddie walked zombie-like out of the lab. She walked up the stairs, across the living room, up the other stairs, and into the master bedroom. With her clothes still on she laid down and cried until she fell asleep, although she couldn’t seem to figure out why.

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_Maddie placed the first bag of groceries onto the counter._

_“Danny. Come and help me with the groceries!”_

_When he didn’t come, she called again. “Danny!”_

_Turning around Maddie noticed the door to the lab was open. That had been closed when she left, after the first portal test did not work. Feeling panic rise, she dropped the bag. ”Danny!”_

_She ran down the stairs. The lights were off, with only the neon green swirl of the portal illuminating the scene. There lying in front of the now active portal was a teenage boy. “Danny!”_

_She stumbled down the last few steps. She fell to the floor beside her son, her baby._

_“Come on baby! Wake up!”_

_Hands shaking, she gently pressed her fingers into his neck above his T-shirt, checking for a pulse. She found nothing. No flutter of his heart, no breath leaving his lungs._

_Tears welling, she cried. “No! No! Danny!”_

_Slamming her hands on his chest, she started chest compressions. “One, two, three, four,five.”_

_Her vision was blurring. She leaned over to give him one breath._

_“Come on Danny! Come on! Wake Up!” Five more compressions, one more breath._

_Still nothing. Maddie was struggling to breathe through here sobs now but she could not stop, she would not stop. She could not lose him.”Four,Five” One more breath. “Danny breathe! Please!”_

_More compressions “Come on sweetie! You can do this! Don’t leave me!” Another breath._

_She could not stand to look anymore. She snapped her eyes shut but kept doing CPR._

_She was full on wailing with snot leaking from her nose, when the temperature dropped. Goose bumps sprung up on her skin and the chill pierced her to her soul._

_“Mom!”_

_“Danny!” His voice was echoing, like he’s yelling from a thousand miles away._

_“Mom! What’s…. I don’t… mom….” He sounded closer now._

_“Danny! Baby I’m here! Hold on.”_

_Her eyes were still closed but she felt the air in front of her shift. “Mom! What’s happening to me?” He sounded like he was crying._

_Without thinking about it, Maddie threw her arms around where she knew he was. ”Danny. It’s okay .It’s okay. I’m here.”_

_She squeezed him like he would disappear from her arms. He was solid but cold, much colder than any human should ever be. He melted into her. ”Mom! I don’t understand. What’s going on?”_

_She rocked on her knees, trying to sooth him like she did when he was a child. “You’re okay. You’re safe. I’ve got you.”_

_Maddie was still crying but she wasn’t sure if they were happy or sad tears. Something was still wrong but she couldn’t figure out what. She wanted to open her eyes but was afraid Danny would disappear if she did._

_“Mom. I think something’s wrong.” No! No! Nothing’s wrong. Her Danny is here. He’s okay._

_“Oh My God.” Danny abruptly pulled back._

_Maddie’s eye snapped open. He was a foot in front of her, wearing a black and white ghost hunting suit. His hair was white and his tearful eyes were green. And they were focused on something in the floor between them. Maddie’s eyes found what he was looking at. It’s a body._

_“Mom. I think I just died.”_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Maddie shot up, heart pounding, tears streaming down her face. Her stomach heaved and she ran for the bathroom. Her entire dinner came up as she chocked back sobs. Once it was over, she wiped her mouth with trembling hands.

She was so stupid! How did she not see this before? The similarities were all there! The same face, the same voice, the same behavior, the same sense of humor, the same laugh, the same selflessness, the same love in his eyes. He was right. She did know him. She had always known him but hadn’t recognized him, not until tonight. She had been so blind, so biased. She had yelled at him, cursed him, threatened him, hurt him. She was a horrible person, a horrible scientist, and a horrible mother. How could she have done this? How could she have not seen?!


	9. Chapter 9

Vision blurry with tears, Maddie stumbled down the stairs and into the lab. Coming to a stop in front of the controls for the containment unit, she slammed her hand down on the button to turn off the shield. Looking into the unit, she saw the ghost had sat up from the cot and was watching her.

"What happened? Are you okay?" His eyes were wide, brows furrowed in concern.

Maddie tried to reply but her voice was chocked with sobs. Heavy guilt flared in her gut. She looked down, unable to look the boy in the eyes. She remained that way for several moments, gently hugging herself. She heard the door to the unit open and close. At feeling the ghostly cold in front of her, Maddie dared to look up. He was floating in front of her.

"Hey, are you okay?" His echoing voice was soft.

He hesitantly moved his arms from his sides and towards her, like he wanted to hug her but was afraid to. The image caused her breath to catch; after all she had done to him, his first impulse was to try and comfort her. Finally looking into his eyes, Maddie pulled the ghost into her arms.

"Danny baby. I'm so sorry." Maddie squeezed him even harder.

"You…you figured it out" He stuttered, hope in his voice.

"Yes! Yes sweetie. You were right! You were right the whole time."

The initial tension running through his body disappeared and he tightly hugged her back. His voice wavered with a mixture of emotions. "Mom?"

Maddie's heart warmed at that. She did not know why she was surprised though. He had called her mom multiple times in the past 24 hours and of course it made sense, confirming his identity. She gently pulled back and cupped his face between her hands. "I love you so much. I am so so sorry."

She removed her hands as tears began dripping down her face. "I've been hunting you for years! I wanted to experiment on you! I hurt and threatened you!"

His eyes were starting to look glossy. "It's okay."

Ignoring the statement, Maddie continued with rising panic. "I shot you! I shot you and you almost destabilized! I could have destroyed you!"

"It's okay." He reassured her.

"And then! And then! I said horrible things to you. I promised to listen but I lied! I broke that promise!"

"Mom! Mom!" He pleaded, voice trembling. "Mom. It's okay. You didn't know."

"But I should have! I'm your mother!"

"I'm the one that lied to you! This isn't your fault!" He said as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"That doesn't matter! I still should have known! I should never have done that to you!"

Phantom, no Danny, stopped arguing at that and looked down. Maddie wiped her face and frowned. Danny always had a tendency blame himself. Could that be what's happening now? Gently taking his hand, she pleaded. "Danny. None of this is your fault. I understand why you didn't tell me. You didn't think I would believe you and I'm not sure if I would have. But please don't blame yourself."

Still looking at the floor, he muttered. "Yes, Mom."

"Sweetie, look at me. I know I have messed up so badly. But all of that is on me. You did not do anything to deserve this."

Watery neon green eyes meet hers. "I…I know that mom."

Maddie raised her eyebrow, not sure if she believed him. Sighing, she pressed on. "You may not believe that right now, sweetie. But I promise that it's true." She leaned forward and gently kissed his forehead. He was only slightly cooler than a human but overall it felt the same as when she kissed her Danny. "I hope I can make all of this up to you. Do you think you can ever forgive me?"

He wiped his eyes. "Of course. I already forgave you."

Maddie smiled at him gently. All that she had done and he was already willing to forgive her. It really should not have been surprising. Her Danny was always so forgiving. That was one thing about him that she loved and was so proud of. He was so selfless and always willing to help people so of course Danny Phantom was the same. She was really lucky to have such a good son.

She hugged him again. "Thank you sweetie."

"I love you Mom." He nuzzled into the hug.

Maddie pulled back and studied him. It was amazing how he looked so different but the same. The glow, the green eyes, and the hair made him look otherworldly but underneath was still her son. Yes, he was different from the Danny she was used to, the one she had raised but at his core, he was her son.

"Are you okay? You're staring at me." He remarked while nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry, sweetie. I'm just…getting used to seeing you like this."

"Oh…Are you okay with this? With me being a ghost?" He asked uncertainly.

Eyes softening, she comforted. "Danny, you're my son. I love you and will always love you. This is all new and will take some time to get used to but it'll be okay. We'll work through everything together."

"Really?"

"Yes. I want know about everything that's happened to you since the accident."

His eyes lit up. "Yeah! I have so much to tell you! About all of the ghost's I've fought. I sealed away the ghost king, did you know that? Oh and I have ghost allies! I can introduce you and Dad to Frostbite and Dora and Pandora! I've time traveled too! Multiple times!"

"So that's why there are records of you from ancient Greece and colonial America."

"Yeah! And we can go ghost hunting together! And I can show you all my powers! And you and Dad can help me train!"

She ruffled his hair. "Of course sweetie. And we'll work on making sure none of our inventions hurt you and invent things to help."

"Yeah! I mean some of your stuff has helped me any way. Like the thermos, and the Fenton phones. Oh and the Speeder! I've taken that a few times. Sorry for not asking." The ghost stated, voice twinging with guilt at the last phrase.

Maddie frowned, not liking that sound of that. "We'll have to work out some rules and a schedule to make sure everyone stays safe. So no taking the Speeder without permission, especially by yourself."

The ghost bit his lip. "Yeah I maybe shouldn't do that again. That sounds fair."

She patted him on the back. "So who all has been helping you?"

"Oh. Sam and Tucker have. We told them once we realized something weird was going on after the accident. And Jazz found out herself about 3 months after."

Maddie nodded. That did make since Danny was so close to those two. Of course he would tell them and they would be eager to help and support him. And Jazz, she was very supportive of Phantom, always verbally defending him and proclaiming his innocence. "I'll need to talk to them too. And to Jazz. I image Sam and Tucker's parents don't know what you've been up to?"

The ghost nodded. "No, they don't."

"Their parents will have to know."

"But…But Sam's parent's already hate me!" He argued.

Maddie furrowed her brow. Sam's parents were very opposed to ghost in general and Phantom especially. That could pose a problem but they deserved to know what their daughter was up too. "My point still stands. If Sam and Tucker are going to continue this, it will be with parent permission and your father and I will train and supervise you."

"But…we've been doing this for years by ourselves and have been fine!"

"But you shouldn't have. You're all just kids!" Maddie countered

His face dropped his eyes sad. "Mom. I haven't been a kid for a while."

Maddie studied his face. His eyes looked older than his 17 years. She'd also seen that look in Danny's crystal blue eyes in the past months when he thought no one was looking. She could hardly imagine all that he had seen and been through since this started. Her heart clinched. Her baby had had to grow up too fast.

"I'm sorry for that. I should have been there earlier, from the beginning. But I am here now. I just want to keep everyone safe."

He looked at her with sincerity. "I do too."

"So you see why your father and I, and Sam and Tucker's parents need to be involved?" Maddie questioned.

"Yeah. But I'm still scared of how they'll react. What if Sam's parents won't let me see her anymore?" The ghost responded glumly.

Maddie smirked. "If I know Sam at all, that won't stop her. And I'll talk to them. We'll figure out something what works for everybody."

The ghost gave her half a smile. "Okay. I can live with that." And then snorted.

Maddie raised her eyebrow. "Was that supposed to be a pun?"

His grin widened. "Yep."

"That was awful." She chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm glad we had this talk."

"Yeah. Things can finally go back to normal." His eyes then widened, like he finally realized something. "O my gosh! The other Danny, he doesn't know about this!" He floated a few feet off the floor. "We need to go get him up!"

Maddie paled. She had also forgotten about that little detail. Putting up her hand to stop him, she stated sternly but gently. "That can wait. We need to talk about the overshadowing first."

The ghost's brows furrowed in confusion. "The overshadowing?"

Maddie crossed her arms. "Yes. You've been overshadowing Danny."

"But I am… Danny."

"The other Danny. Your human counterpart?" Maddie retorted in similar confusion.

"But that's not…we're the same…" The ghost floated back. "Mom." He paused, watching her reaction. When she didn't react, his eyes widened almost comically. "What…ummm…exactly did you figure out?"

"You're Danny's ghost." Maddie replied confidently

His nose wrinkled. "Okay? But what does that mean?"

"You were created by the portal accident." The confused expression remained. Did he really not know what he was? Maddie decided to continue. "Ghosts are created from emotions of a human's death. And it had been theorized that the intense emotions of a near-death experience could do the same thing. But there's never been any proof before now. When Danny…almost died… in the portal accident, that emotion caused you to form. I'm guessing the close proximity to ectoplasm is why you formed so quickly and are so powerful."

He was still staring at her widen eyed but now looked hurt. "So you think I'm just a copy?"

Maddie frowned. Understanding why this could be upsetting, she walked forward and gently took his hand. "No. Sweetie. You are incredible. You think. You feel. You love. You remember Amity Park and your family and choose to protect us. And your connection to your still living counterpart. That's amazing! It's let you grow and remember what it's like to be human. It's probably let you feel more emotions and more deeply than most ghosts." He still looked somewhat hurt and Maddie pressed on. "Danny, sweetie. I don't care where you came from. I may not have given birth to you but you're still my son. You will always be my son."

At this point the ghost definitely looked like a fish out of water. He kept opening and closing his mouth, as if he wanted to talk but could not figure out the words. Maddie raised her eyebrows skeptically. "You must be aware of this at some level? I mean you've never tried to scare or hurt the other Danny. I've seen how you are with him. You're like too peas in a pod. I've never seen two people who were so in sync."

He finally managed to respond. He started…laughing? It was a disbelieving, mirthless laughter with an edge of hysteria. Maddie's breathe hitched, her thoughts buzzing with panic. What if she was completely wrong? What if this was a trap? What if she just fell for it and gave the ghost exactly what he wanted? A thousand thoughts and concerns for the safety of her family and town surged through her head, with a feeling of betrayal.

After what felt like mintues but was only 30 seconds, the ghost finally looked at her and lightly chuckled. "I mean you are kinda right. I guess I technically am Danny's ghost. And I am…like this because of the portal. But…umm… there's more going on. You sorta figure it but jump to the completely wrong conclusion."

Maddie relaxed a little at the knowledge that she was at least partially right, and therefore Phantom hadn't tried to trap or betray her. She raised her eyebrows and responded with a hint of defiance. "I'm wrong? How am I wrong?"

The ghost sighed with frustration. "Uggg. I can't explain this by myself." He rubbed his eyes. "You need to talk to all of me. I only have like half my brain."

Maddie's mouth fell open. "What?"

"Me and the other Danny, we need to talk to you at the same time. Ugggg this would be so much easier if we were like normal." He put his hands over his face.

Maddie was scratching her head. This still was not making any sense!

The ghost face-palmed and slowly moved the hand down his face. "Can you talk about this in the morning?"

Maddie's mouth snapped shut and she argued. "Why can't we talk about this now? I can go get Danny if we need to." She started to move towards the stairs

The ghost flew in front of her, blocking her path. He responded with slight annoyance. "No, believe me he needs to sleep. And you look exhausted too."

She tried to argue, her concern growing. "But!"

"I'm serious. It's been a really long, really hard day and you look awful. You'll take this better if you sleep." He countered with surprising sincerity.

Maddie was starting to tear up now, in a mixture of stress and exhaustion. "But I need to figure this out now."

Expression softening, the ghost gently took her hands. "Hey. It can wait. I'll still be here in the morning."

Maddie squeezed his surprisingly solid hands. It was grounding because honestly, she was scared. She thought she had figured it out. She had accepted this and now he's telling her there's more and being all cryptic.

The ghost wrapped his arms around her. "I promise it'll be okay. We'll be okay. No matter what happens tomorrow, I'll still be your son and you'll still be my mom."

Maddie returned the hug, feeling calmer but somewhat ashamed at her initial reaction. She jumped to the conclusion that he had tricked her and even though she didn't voice it, the thought still passed through her head. Hadn't he already proved himself enough? And now here he was comforting her. That was supposed to be her job. She was the parent and he was her child. He hadn't said that she was wrong, just that she did not have all of the information. And hadn't that happened many times in the past day. She kept on learning new thing about both the human that was her son and the ghost that was her son. She kept on having to choose to accept those things and change her mind.

She pulled away but continued studying the ghost's face. Her heart had calmed but it radiated with love. "You're right sweetie." She kissed his forehead for the second time that night. "I'll see you in the morning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! And thank you to anyone who has commented on or bookmarked this story. I love seeing your comments. They always make me so happy and motivate me. The next chapter is the last one so if you have any comments or questions about the story as a whole or this chapter let me know!  
> Also I have a story idea for after I finish Double Discovery and am wondering if anyone would interested in reading it. I have an introduction/ story blurb below.  
> “I’ve never really written a journal before, well that may not be true. I don’t remember ever writing in a journal before but I feel like I’m not the kinda person who does. Anyway I thought that maybe writing this down would help me sort out…everything. I woke up here, wherever here is, with no memories. He told me my name is Daniel James Masters. He told me I am a human-ghost hybrid, like him. He told me he is my father. But I know that’s a lie; there is no way Vlad Masters, my capture is my parent. I know I have a real home somewhere out there. I have a family and friends who love me. Too bad I can’t remember anything about them.”  
> I posted a little more about it on my Tumblr. You can find me at @dp-marvel94 there so please follow me there if you are interested. https://dp-marvel94.tumblr.com/post/187473458979/so-i-have-a-story-idea-for-after-i-finish-double


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning Maddie woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed and calm. After finishing her talk with Phantom, she had gone upstairs and fallen asleep with little incident. Maddie stretched and look over at the clock; it was about 9:30. She was surprised she had slept that late, even on a Sunday. After using the rest room, Maddie for once dressed in casual clothes, jeans and one of her few t shirts instead of her ghost hunting suit. Hopefully the choice of dress would help the ghost feel more comfortable for the talk with her today. Maddie was honestly a little surprised with her willingness to disarm herself in front of a ghost, but then again, she was choosing to trust him and that was easier now that she knew who he was. Even though Phantom was a ghostly copy of her Danny, she loved him anyway and would always love him. After her dream, she soberly realized that if her Danny had died in the portal accident, Phantom would have been all that was left of him. She wondered what could have happened if things had been different. Would Phantom have found her? Would she have rejected him, angry at him impersonating her dead son? She frowned, shaking her head. There was no point dwelling on what could have been. They had gotten lucky, really lucky. Her still living son was still here and his ghostly counterpart had received in essence his humanity down to his core.

After exiting her room, Maddie peered into Danny's room. She smiled but then the expression morphed into surprise when sleeping on the bed, she saw Danny and…Danny?, ghost Danny?, Phantom?(she should probably call him Phantom to avoid confusing herself). It was honestly rather adorable; despite the bed being pretty small for two almost full grown teenage boys, they looked comfortable. Both laid on their stomachs with the human's right arm around the ghost's back. Phantom's legs had morphed in a ghostly tail which was wrapped around one of the human's legs.

Maddie marveled at how close the two were; the scene was strangely intimate but still completely innocent. It reminded her of when Danny was little. He was a very tactical child and loved to cuddle especially when he was scared or sad. He would often come into their bedroom at night whenever he needed to be comforted and just wanted to be near his parents. She often missed those times; now he was a teenager and more often than not shied away from her affection. She was glad though that Danny, both her Dannys, did go to someone for comfort, considering the intensely emotional day they had endured. And frankly going to each other made sense. She wondered what it was like, having all those shared emotions, memories, and experiences. She could hardly imagine having such a close, unique connection to someone, to see yourself reflected so strongly in someone else. She wondered what it must have been like to go through something so traumatic and confusing and find you've suddenly gained a brother, a twin. That was how Danny had described their relationship – the closest word being brothers.

After standing there for several minutes, Maddie noticed the pair stir. The ghost's tail twitched and slowly unwound from where it was wrapped around the human. The human turned over so he was on his side, facing the ghost, and slowly opened his eyes. Stretching, he gently poked the ghost to no response.

His soft sleepy voice stated. "We should get up."

The ghost's tail swished but he ignored his counterpart.

Danny propped himself up with one elbow and poked Phantom again. "Come on Sleeping Beauty. Up."

Phantom turned his head to face the human and with half lidded eyes, quipped. "If you try to kiss me to wake me up, I will punch you."

Grinning, Danny leaned towards the ghost and mockingly made kissy noises. Phantom's eyes shot open. Looking mortified, he glared at the human who chuckled. Phantom's expression then gained an air of mischief. He grabbed Danny's arm. The ghost's hand became transparent with a bluish tint and the effect quickly spread to the human. Danny yelped as he suddenly became intangible and fell through the bed. Once he was completely through the mattress and under the bed, Phantom let go.

Phantom smirked. "It's been a while since that happened."

Danny crawled out from under the bed. He huffed, glaring at the ghost as Phantom started laughing. Danny's eyes then widened at he finally saw Maddie watching from the hallway. "Mom!"

Phantom turned so he was facing her also with a surprised expression.

Maddie walked inside. She smiled, meeting Danny's eyes and then Phantom's. "Good morning you two."

The pair's eyes quickly flickered between each other and their mother. Phantom managed to stammer. "Good morning."

Still smiling, Maddie addressed the ghost. "Sweetie, I assume you told him about our conversation last night." Maddie tipped her head towards the human Danny.

The tension decreasing, Phantom replied. "Yeah Mom. I did."

Maddie nodded, noticing that Danny also relaxed. "Good. I'm going to go downstairs and fix breakfast. After we eat, the three of us need to talk."

She noticed the pair exchanged worried looks at that but ignored it. They were probably anxious about the upcoming conversation, through Maddie couldn't guess what they had to tell her.

"I'll call you when breakfast is ready." Maddie then left the room and closed the door. Though she heard frantic whispers as soon as the door closed, she ignored that too. Whatever they told her, it would be fine, she hoped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After eating a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and eggs mostly in awkward silence, Maddie and the two Dannys entered the living room. The pair sat side by side on the couch while Maddie took the nearby arm chair.

Trying to appear as calm as possible, Maddie began. "I just want to talk. I promise I'll listen so I want you to tell me everything you haven't told me yet. I promise I won't get angry. I just need to know what's going on so I can help you and keep everyone safe. Okay?"

The pair nodded but remained silent. Phantom fidgeted nervously while Danny bit his lip. Both boy's eyes darted around the room, seeming to fall anywhere but on her. Maddie too remained silent, laying her hands in her lap; she'd let them sweat it out for a bit.

After what fell like an eternity of awkward silence, Danny finally spoke. "Uhhh…this isn't how I pictured this conversation happening." He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, as his speech quickened. "I mean I don't know how to explain this…. We've never had too, especially not when we've been like this. Jazz found out by accident and we just showed Sam and Tucker but can't do that right now. Sooo I don't…"

"We're the same person!" Phantom's outburst cut off Danny's rambling. The human looked at the ghost with wide eyes. "What!? We need to just come out and say it." Danny then nodded, seeming to agree with his counterpart.

Looking at the two with compassion and a little confusion, Maddie replied. "Sweetie…Phantom. I already know that Danny is who you're imprinted from."

The ghost furiously shook his head. "No. Umm We're….we're not separate people."

Maddie furrowed her brow. Maybe he's misunderstanding how ghost's form? "But that's not how that…"

Danny put up his hand to stop her. "Mom. Please just listen."

Pushing down her confusion (and desire to correct Phantom), Maddie nodded.

The ghost continued. "We're not normally like this." He waved his hands, vaguely motioning to himself and the human Danny. "We're…fused together. All in one body."

Maddie put her head in her hands, feeling slightly vexed. "Is this about the overshadowing? Because you can't keep that up."

The human cut in, voice serious. "Mom! Listen!" Her mouth snapped shut. "Phantom doesn't overshadow me. It's not that we're in only one body. We're one person."

Phantom continued. "We're not separate people. There's only one Danny."

Maddie threw up her hands. "But that literally doesn't make any sense! The two of you are sitting in front of me right now!"

Phantom crossed his arms. "We're not normally like this. This happened because of the antipossession gun."

Danny sighed. "Yeah. We're normally all in one place. Right now we're…one mind in two bodies."

Maddie gapped. That…that didn't make any sense. Bugg-eyed, she quickly looked between the two.

Danny face palmed. "We're doing a horrible job of explaining this. It'd be some much easier if we could show you."

Phantom, who had been studying the floor, perked up. "Wait! We can." Danny raised an eyebrow at him. "No, not like that. The video that Tucker made of us training."

Danny's eyes widened and he smiled. "There should be footage of us transforming!"

The ghost immediately sprung off the couch. "The DVD's phased into the wall of our bedroom. I'll go get it!" Legs meddling into a ghostly tail, he quickly floated up through the ceiling. Maddie stared at where he'd left. She had no idea what to think. If they were lying, this was absolutely ridiculous and why would they lie? Unless they were trying to get her to let the overshadowing continue? But they could have come up with something better. Maddie frowned. Maybe they were both delusional. Worry knotted in her gut. She really hoped that was not the case.

Phantom returned about a minute later with a DVD in a paper case. "Here it is."

Danny grabbed the remote and turned on the TV and the DVD player. Phantom floated down and put the disk in the player. He rubbed his hands together and turned to face Maddie, looking nervous. "Alright Mom. Hopefully this will show you what we're talking about. I promise it's real. We're telling the truth."

Phantom floated back to the couch and sat beside his counterpart. Danny aimed a nervous smile at the ghost. He took the Phantom's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. Danny then swallowed and started the footage.

Maddie turned towards the TV. A low quality, clearly homemade video played.

_Danny Fenton was standing in their lab. From behind the camera came Tucker's voice. "Okay Dude. So what's the plan for today?"_

" _Well I've been working on ectoplasmic constructs and I can almost make a crude sword…sometimes. And I think I'm going to try the ice sword again. It would go be cool if I could do a combined one! Ohh and I need to work on duplication some more." He frowned at the end._

_Tucker chuckled. "Yeah. Maybe you won't get stuck with three arms this time."_

" _Hahaha. It wasn't as funny trying to hide that from Mom and Dad." He grinned. "At least I got to freak out Jazz."_

Maddie heard both boys on the couch also chuckle at that.

_Tucker laughed again. Then the Danny on the screen took a confident stance, with his feet apart and balled fists in the air. As a white ring of light formed around his waist, he shouted "I'm going ghost!"_

Maddie blanched at the image and phrase. She had seen that ring before, on Phantom.

_The ring separated into two and moved away from each other, towards Danny's head and feet. Where ever the light passed, Danny's clothes turned from a t shirt and jeans into familiar black fabric. As the ring passed over Danny's head, his hair turned from black to white. He opened his eyes and they were neon green._

Maddie's blood ran cold. She couldn't believe her eyes. This…this had to be fake. The video continued.

_The now ghost? on the screen floated up. His fists lighted with green ecto energy. A look of concentration settled on his face. "All right, Tucker, I'm going to try the ecto sword first." The echoing voice was the same as Phantom's, and Danny's. The ghost put his hands in front of him and formed a ball of energy. It grew until it was the size of a soccer ball. Then the shape changed, as it narrowed and lengthened. Though it looked fuzzy around the edges and insubstantial, one end started to resemble the Promina of a sword. The object started solidifing, as the ghost gritted his teeth. "Come on. Come on!"_

_Suddenly, the object became fuzzy again and just sort of feel apart as the energy dissipated into the air. "Uhhh I almost had it!"_

Maddie was so focused on the images, trying to decipher what it meant that she flinched when the video fasted forwarded.

She looked back at Phantom who was now holding the remote. He sheepishly smiled. "I…uhhh…don't think you want to see us try to duplicate right now. It didn't go well that time."

Maddie paled, speechless. The video stopped on a visibly tired Phantom.

_He sagged in the air. "Tuck, I think I'm done for today."_

" _Danny! I think your parents are home!" A female voice, maybe Sam, yelled from upstairs._

_His eyebrows raised in alarm. Without a word, the ring formed again, passing over and changing him again. But this time in reverse, black suit to t-shirt and jeans, white hair to black, green eyes to blue. He touched back down with a lot of grace from someone who suddenly stopped floating. Like he was used the shift in gravity. "We need to get out of here. We're not supposed to be in the lab."_

_Quickly walked forward, the human-looking boy suddenly disappeared._

" _Danny!" The camera moved forward and then hit something invisible._

" _Ow! Tucker! I'm right in front of you! I'll turn us both invisible and we can sneak upstairs!"_

_The image wavered, as a wave of… something passed over the camera, darkening the image. "Dude! I need to turn of the camera!" Then the image went black._

Maddie froze, hands shaking. Looking back at the pair, she snatched the remote from Phantom's hand. Quickly standing up, she scrambled towards the TV. Standing much closer than was normal, she stopped. She rewound the video to that last…change, transformation, whatever it was. It had to be fake; there was no way that was real. Playing it in reverse turned Danny into Phantom. Forward, Phantom into Danny. It looked authentic and her gut was saying this was real. She was grasping at straws; maybe Danny was possessed the entire time and Phantom could change his outward appearance? That would explain why the human looking Danny could turn himself and others invisible. But there was no change in body language, stance, or speech. It was seamless.

She rewound and watched the scene again. Those rings, those impossible rings changing the figure from human to ghost, from ghost to human. Danny Fenton into Danny Phantom and Danny Phantom into Danny Fenton. The human son she had raised and had always known - with the ghost son, who was so foreign but so familiar. Except that was not what was happening. There were not two figures; one was not replacing the other. There was one figure. What had he said earlier? There's only one Danny.

She watched the scene one more time. Human to ghost, ghost to human. Her son. That was her son. And somehow, she had no idea how, he was both a ghost and a human. Or maybe some kind of hybrid, half of each - half human and half ghost. That would explain the mixed biology, the ectoplasm in Danny and organic material in Phantom. And it would explain the shared ectosignature. Phantom's ectosignature was in Danny because it was Danny's signature. Because they were the same person. She shook her head; she could think about that later. She rewound the video so the figure was in the middle of the transformation. Despite herself she smiled. That was her son, all of him, both Fenton and Phantom. Maddie was a little surprised she was not freaking out more. Then again, really she found out the hard thing last night. Danny Phantom was not the person she thought he was, and neither was Danny Fenton. But she still loved him, both sides? Parts? Halfs? Of him.

Maddie turned back to the pair on the couch. Both looked worried. They were quietly whispering between themselves. Neither of them, neither of him?, noticed she was looking. Maddie frowned. How had they described it earlier? One mind in two bodies. But they were, he was not supposed to be like that. She saw it in the video. He was supposed to be truly one person. Maddie felt guilt swell in her gut. Her invention did that. Her invention ripped her son, her baby in half and caused almost half of him to destabilize. Her breath quickened. Oh My God. What had she done? She had violated him in a way she couldn't even imagine. She could not imagine what it was like to literally be only half yourself. For such a vital part of you to be missing. Was it even reversible? What if it wasn't? What would happen to her baby? She felt tears starting to well. They seemed okay now but would that last. Would they waste away, the human part getting sicker and weaker as the ghost destabilized? Or worst, would one half of him die, cease to exist, while the other spends the rest of his life, existence without the other half of his soul?

Maddie was crying in earnest now, struggling to breath. Behind her she heard tentative footsteps. There was a slight draft out of nowhere, the tell-tell sign of a ghost. Maddie turned around. Both Dannys were behind her with their eyes fixed on the floor. Not even hesitating, she grabbed both boys and pulled them into a group hug. Maddie wept, cradling the back of each head with one hand. She rocked on her heels, the emotions intense enough to force her to her knees. She crumbled pulling both Dannys down with her. She felt that both boys were still tense and only half heartily returning the hug. Phantom pulled away from her and his other half soon followed.

The ghost looked down, shoulders dropped. The human looked at her with a hurt expression. "I..I thought you had accepted Phantom. Why are you so upset we're the same person?"

Maddie paled, not understanding. "Mom. I promise we're…I'm still the same person you've always known. Please we're still your son." At the end of the human Danny's plea, his ghost half's sorrow filled eyes fixed on her.

Maddie's mouth formed an O as she realized what was happening. They thought she was so upset because she knew they were the same person, two halves of a whole. As if she would love Phantom if he was just a ghost copy of her son, but could not if he was actually part of her son. She felt guilty again.

Cupping Phantom's face with one hand and Fenton's with the other, she looked in one pair of eyes and then the other. "Danny. I love you, both of you, all of you. Phantom and Fenton. Ghost and human." She gave the ghost a kiss on the forehead and then the human.

The ghost bit his lip, tears starting to fall. "So you're okay that we're half ghost? You're not going to try and fix us?"

Maddie titled her head. Was he really afraid that she would not accept them as a half ghost (hybrid? Whatever he was?) and try to make them fully human again? She paled, reading between the lines. He was afraid she would destroy him, in her mind trying to 'fix' things.

Looking Phantom in the eyes, she promised. "Everything I said earlier was true. I love you and always will. You being actually part of my son and not a separate ghost does not change that." She took both Dannys' hands in hers. "I don't really understand this yet. But I'm not going to try and change or fix you. I love you just the way you are."

Maddie leaned forward and hugged the pair again. This time they melted into the embrace. Maddie finally smiled. After almost one minute, she pulled away and wiped her tears with her hand. Both Dannys looked more relaxed, though their eyes were glistening with unshed tears. Phantom smiled. "Thanks mom." He floated up and offered his hand to help her. Maddie took it and was hoisted to her feet. The other Danny also stood up and the pair made their way to the couch and Maddie to the arm chair.

Once everyone was seated, Phantom looked at Maddie. His brow wrinkled in slight confusion. "Why were you so upset earlier though?"

Maddie's hands trembled again and she swallowed. With dread, she whispered. "My invention, I ripped you in half."

Phantom and Fenton's mouths both formed Os and they looked at each other. The human Danny cut in. "Oh. That makes sense."

Maddie looked at them skeptically. "How are you not freaking out about this?"

Ghost Danny raised an eyebrow at her. "This has happened before."

"What!" Maddie gasped.

"Yeah. The Fenton Ghost Catcher does something similar." Phantom answered nonchalantly.

"Except it did weird things to our personality." Fenton supplemented. Pointing to his ghost half, he continued. "He was Mr. fearless ghost hero. No distractions from school or friends or family. Just all day and all night ghost fighting, good deeds."

The ghost crossed his arms. "I wasn't that bad."

"You were wearing a bedsheet as a cape." Danny stood up, grabbed a blanket from the couch, and draped it around his shoulders as a cape. Putting his hands on his hips, he puffed out his chest and in a faux-deep superheroish voice quipped. "Fizzling Phantoms! This looks like a job for Danny Phantom! I shall battle the insipid technological fiend of Technus into the wee hours of the night. Then proceed to push the Fenton Family's Ghost Assualt Vehicle into the lake to hinder Technus's malicious campaign."

Maddie's eyes widened. "You're the one who trashed the RV."

"It was him!" The wide eyed human Danny jabbed his finger at his ghost half in panic.

Phantom scrunched his noise and raised his shoulders. "We just established that we're the same person!"

The human Danny looked like he wanted to avow his innocence but obviously had no argument so he snapped his mouth shut and pouted.

Maddie knew she should not laugh but the mirth bubbled in her chest. She grinned and then Phantom grinned with her and both started laughing. Human Danny relaxed and eventually gave in too.

"I think I remember that weekend. You were also acting rather odd." Maddie pointed at the human version of her son, who blushed.

Phantom perked up though. "Yeah. You were the Fun Danny. No rules, all fun, surfer frat bro. You kept calling everyone dude and spontaneously grew a mullet."

"Yep. The mullet made no sense."

Phantom was laughing now. "And that stupid hat and plaid jacket!"

Fenton also laughed. "Whatever happened to those clothes anyway? They disappeared when we went back through the ghost catcher."

Phantom grinned. "Watch this." With a focused expression, he held his hands out. White rings, like the ones from the video formed, around his wrists. They moved over the hands and instead of changing the flesh, where they passed a jacket and baseball cap appeared.

Human Danny excitedly threw his hands up. "O my gosh! I forgot we could do that! We should use the more often."

His ghost half did not respond but instead put on the jacket and cap. "Hey dudes. So I'm like the Fun Danny. We should totally blow off our homework and ghost hunting to like go bowling. Then let's see how many Cheetos we can stuff into our mouth's Dude."

Both boys snickered while Maddie just marveled at the exchange. Pointing to the jacket, Maddie asked. "How did you make those appear?"

The ghost was taking the clothes off but looked at her. "Oh. When we transform, any objects we're holding like our backpack, the thermos, or even clothes disappear but they go somewhere because they come back after. I mean we don't know where or how it works. We don't know how going ghost works either. But we at least figured out how to pull those lost items back, just have to focus."

Maddie looked at him thoughtfully. She had so many questions- about this going ghost, about the ghost he'd fought and the allies he talked about earlier, about Phantom's early mishaps like holding the mayor hostage and that stealing spree, about the time traveling he mentioned earlier. But what was in front of her right now was capturing her attention- that her son was split into two versions of himself and this had happened before.

Maddie frowned slightly. "Why did you…split up last time anyway?"

The two Dannys look at each other questioningly, probably confused at the shift in the conversation. Fenton's hand went to rub his neck. "We…wanted to be able to hunt down Technus and hang out with Sam and Tucker at the same time so used the Ghost Catcher to be in two places at once."

Phantom rubbed his hands together. "Yeah. It only kind of worked. Like we said earlier, it did weird things to our personality but Fenton got to have fun with our friends and I, the ghost half, chased down Technus."

Maddie sighed. She did not like the idea that her son tested one of their inventions on himself though it appeared to work out okay. "Your father and I were at the pier so we saw some of that. What happened after you pushed the van in the lake?"

Fenton continued. "We…uhh…tried to refuse through overshadowing but it didn't work. Probably because we didn't want to refuse yet. So at home we tried with the Ghost catcher but went through the wrong side."

"We ended up as two half ghost's, each with only half our powers but the same personalities. We had to hide from you, Dad, and Jazz while we figured it out."

Maddie cupped her chin. "That's why Jazz was freaking out, saying there were two Dannys." Both boys blushed. "And why we saw two Phantoms when Technus attacked the house."

"Yeah our two halves worked together to stop him. And then finally went through the merge side of the catcher to refuse." Phantom added.

His human half continued. "Yeah. We decided after that to never do that again. It was confusing and we had a headache the day after from dealing with the two sets of memories. And figured out we're better as one whole person, not two halves."

Phantom chuckled. "While just me, as Phantom only, couldn't catch Technus despite chasing him all weekend, we managed to deal with him in a few minutes working together. We obviously need each other."

A lot of what they said matched with what the human Danny told her about his connection to the ghost. Maddie smiled. It was good to know Danny had made peace with those two parts of himself. Though she wondered why his personality wasn't obviously different this time. Maybe it was because it was a different device this time? And maybe they were more used to it. Danny in the video had mentioned duplication and there were accounts and video of Phantom using duplication in battle.

She asked the next question that came to her mind. "What does it feel like being split like that? Is it like duplication?"

Fenton frowned. "No. Unlike duplication, I can't just tell my copy to do something and he'll do it."

"Well you can try." Phantom quipped.

Fenton grinned. "Okay. Hit yourself in the face."

With a shit-eating grin, Phantom reached over and playfully hit Fenton in the face and laughed.

Fenton looked shocked at first and then laughed too. "Okay. I deserved that."

Maddie also laughed lightly. After they calmed, she continued. "But seriously, what is it like?"

Both halves looked down and frowned. Phantom was the one that spook up. "There is still connection there, like the shared emotions. But it still feels like something is missing. There's an emptiness, inside. Like…like I'm incomplete."

Maddie sobered at that, seeing Fenton nod in agreement. She didn't press farther. This is clearly deeply personal. It was not just having powers missing or the inability to turn human but deeper. Like part of your soul was missing. She stuttered a reply. "That must be…violating." Taking both boys' hands again, she continued. "I'm sorry the ectogun did this to you. I'll find a way to make sure it won't work on you again or destroy it if I can't."

Phantom gave her a strained smile. "It's okay. We know you didn't mean to do it."

Fenton continued. "Yeah. We're okay. Really." He looked at his ghost half. "Being close together helps, and knowing this isn't forever."

Maddie paled at that again. "But…what if Phantom had destabilized earlier?"

The ghost gulped. His human halves' eyes widened and he looked at his hands. Fenton stuttered. "I don't…don't know."

Maddie stood up and kneeled in front of the couch. She reached to hug both her Dannys. "I promise you won't ever have to find out. I'll make sure of it." They stayed like that for a few seconds. Then Maddie pulled back. "You mentioned earlier using the ghost catcher to…refuse. Do you want to go ahead and try that now?"

Just like that the mood changed. The human Danny smiled. "Yes. Absolutely. I've missed my powers."

Ghost Danny crossed his arms and quipped in mock annoyance. "Glad to know, that's all I contribute."

The human huffed but was suppressing a grin. "Oh please. Earlier in the RV, you said you were having an out of body experience, so apparently all I am is the meat suit."

The ghost paled and his mouth fell open. He looked mortified. "O my god. I can't believe I said that!"

Fenton just laughed and gently knocked shoulders with his ghost. Phantom slowly smiled and started laughing too. "Well I missed having the ability to sense temperature and actually having a heart beat."

Maddie just smiled at the two, savoring her Danny's sense of humor and ability to pounce back. She stood up. "Come on. Let's go downstairs and find the ghost catcher."

The two Dannys nodded and then stood up, though the ghost remained floating. Maddie with the two halves of her son made her way into the lab once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just when Maddie was about to suggest they look in the Ops Center, Phantom found the device in the back of the weapons closet under a sheet, which he proceeded to wear like a cape. He flew out of the closet with the Catcher in hand and received a playful punch on the arm from his human half for the choice in garb.

Maddie smiled at the exchange and then eyed the Ghost Catcher. Worry knotted in her stomach. "Are you sure this will work?"

Phantom looked at her with certainty. "Yeah. It will work."

Fenton patted her on the shoulder. "Yeah. Mom it will."

She pulled them both into a hug. Before she had been ready, eager even to have the two refuse, to talk to her whole son for the first time since finding out the truth, but now she was nervous. There was huge difference between seeing Phantom and Fenton in separate bodies and seeing them as one. The Danny that came out of the Ghost Catcher, would he be the same as she remembered? Or would something be lost in the fusion? She knew it was ridiculous but part of her felt like she would be losing something. Being able to see and interaction with the two halves like this was a unique experience. She was afraid she would miss it. Maddie stepped back, studying the faces again. She smiled. She would be okay, they would be okay. She kissed both on the forehead. "I love you so much." She motioned to the Ghost Catcher. "Go ahead."

The two Dannys looked at each other. The human asked. "Ready to get back to normal?"

The ghost smiled. "Yeah. I'm going to miss being able to banter with myself."

His human half laughed. "Me too." He then pulled the ghost into a hug which the ghost returned.

They stayed like that for several moments. Fenton muttered into the ghost's shoulder. "I hope to not see you on the other side, except like in the mirror."

Phantom replied. "Same. Ready to go?"

The human perked his head up, though did not move from hugging the ghost. He gave his ghost half a nod and Phantom floated both of them off the floor. They gave their mother one last smile before flying through the merge side of the Ghost Catcher.

There was flash of light and then a human-looking Danny Fenton came through the other side, smiling with his arms hugging himself. That was until he hit the floor. Maddie stared dumb founded at the scene for a few second until she ran to him. A mixture of anxiety, fear, happiness, and hope swirled in her gut. Danny groaned and rubbed his head. Then his eyes fell on his mother. "Hi Mom."

She kneeled down in front of him. "Did…did it work?"

He continued rubbing his head and squinted at her. "Yeah it did. My head just hurts. Trying to deal with having two sets of memories of the last day. Give me a minute."

Maddie stopped at that, mind churning with questions. Soon his face relaxed. Not being able to stop herself, she squeezed him in a hug. "Danny sweetie. I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I hurt you and yelled at you. And threatened and hunted you. Can you please forgive me?""

He squeezed back. "Mom stop! You already apologized."

Maddie stopped, pulling back. She had told Phantom that….but he was Phantom. "You remember that?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. So I remember everything, you finding out and letting me out of the unit and crying. You apologizing and then telling you everything this morning and hugging in the living room. I forgive you."

She relaxed at that. "I'm so glad you're okay. You are okay, right?"

Danny looked at his hand. Maddie's eyes widened as it lit up with neon green ectoenergy. "Yeah. It looks like my powers are working."

Maddie looked into his eyes. They were glowing ectoplasmic green, like Phantom's eyes. Right then, it really hit her. Her son was Phantom. Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom. And Danny Phantom was Danny Fenton. She had known and acknowledged it earlier but it was so different really seeing it now, seeing her human-looking son use clearly ghost's powers.

"Uhhhh Mom, you're staring." He was rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh Sorry honey. I'm wrapping my head around this."

He nervously grinned. "Yeah. I guess it is different seeing me use my powers like this, after the last day."

He was certainly right. This would take time to get used to. She stood up. "Do you want to talk about all this in the living room?"

He stood up too. "Yeah. We can do that."

They walked up the stairs and sat on the couch, side by side. Maddie put her arm around her son. "Any other big revelations you need to tell me?"

He bit his lip. "Well. Vlad Masters is a homicidal half ghost who wants to kill Dad, marry you, and make me his son/creepy apprentice." Maddie gapped but he continued. "He…uhh… tried to clone me once. One of the clones survived though. Her name is Danielle and she looks about 13. She turned against Vlad and travels now. She's cool." He looked down. "I worry about her a lot."

Maddie gapped. "I…I have another child."

Danny looked at her wide eyed, realization dawning. "Yeah. I guess you do. We used to call each other cousin but I've started to think of her as a little sister."

"Do you have a way of getting up with her?"

"I gave her a cheap prepaid phone. I can call her and try to convince her to come meet you."

"And your Father."

Danny paled. "I'm going to have to tell Dad!"

"I'll help you. I'm sure he'll take it well. He'll probably be very excited. His son is superhero." She gently elbowed him. Danny blushed and shook his head. "You are!" She kissed his forehead. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks mom." He gave her a side hug. Then a blue mist escaped from his lips and he gasped. Maddie looked at him questioningly. He elaborated "Ghost sense. It feels weak. Probably an ectopuss. I should go deal with it." He then stood up and grinned at her. "You haven't seen me go ghost yet, just on the video."

Maddie's heart quickened in anticipation. Danny putted his fists up and yelled. "I'm going ghost!"

The rings formed, just like in the video and on Phantom earlier. They separated and changed his clothes. His hair turned white and eyes green. He grinned at her and Maddie stared in amazement. It was so different that on the video, so much more real. This was her son and she was so proud of him. Love swelled in her heart. She pulled the now floating half ghost to her and gave him another hug. She'd been doing that a lot today. She had a lot to make up for and a lot to learn but she would. Happy tears prickled in her eyes. Despite how emotionally taxing this weekend had been, she was glad she had meet this side of her son and now knew who he really was. She closed her eyes and could feel in his chest the twin pulsing of his core and the beating of his heart. Human and ghost in perfect harmony, exactly like he was supposed to be.

Releasing her grip, she beamed. "Go get 'em Danny."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to say this earlier so I’m going to say it now. A huge thanks needs to go out to my sister for letting me bounce ideas off of her and helping me proofread this story. She’s the reason this story isnt full of typos and grammatical issues. Unfortunately she doesn't have an account here or on Tumblr so you can't hit her up but I do show her all of the comments I get here.  
> Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read, comment on, and bookmark this story. All of the feedback I have gotten has really encouraged me. I am so proud of myself for actually finishing this story. It has been an incredibly rewarding project and definitely has made me want to continue writing. As I mentioned last update, I have another idea I am currently working on. I don't know when I will be posting it since I am dealing with job searching right now (Pray for me guys, it's rough) and that's eating up a lot of my time for the forseeable future. But I will be posting the story eventually; I am too excited about it not to. So be sure to follow me here and on Tumblr so you see that story when I post it. Thanks again!


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